Postcard Sparks Investigation of Train Track Murder in Tennessee, Police Say
A community college received a letter signed by the "Green Light Killa."
— -- A Tennessee community college received a postcard in October suggesting a possible murder on nearby railroad tracks, sparking a police investigation in Gallatin, a spokesman for the department told ABC News today.
The radio station at Volunteer State Community College received an anonymous postcard in the mail on Oct. 8 signed “Green Light Killa” and reported the suspicious note to campus police, who then brought it to the Gallatin Police Department the same day, Gallatin spokesman Bill Storment said.
Police immediately started an investigation and “gathered a large contingent of personnel to go out and search the railroad tracks through Gallatin,” Storment said.
The search included emergency management personnel, command staff, lieutenants, patrol officers, reserve officers and cadaver dogs, Storment said, but after searching “about a couple dozen miles of train tracks,” the team came up with nothing.
The postcard, which was postmarked in Peoria, Illinois reads: “Hello, you know what it’s like to watch a train hit a man you laid on the tracks. Trains make an awful mess of an old drunk. Guess the cops never found his glasses. I found this is the best way to kill a man.”
The note ends with, “Best wishes, the Green Light Killa.”
Police have looked at the area’s two train track fatalities within the last 12 months to see if there could be a possible connection, but train conductors confirmed that these incidents were not related, Storment said.
Although police have contacted local departments for information and put out a national bulletin, they have “gotten no responses back,” Storment said.
Officials at Volunteer State Community College also "have no idea" why it was sent to the radio station, college spokesman Eric Melcher told ABC News today.
Police have considered the possibility of the postcard being a hoax, but Storment said that only “time may answer that question.”
He added: “A body may turn up a year from now that gets connected to this claim, however we are confident no crime was committed in Gallatin, Tennessee.”
