TULSA, Okla. — The year was 1981, and Denise Palmer was a young bride looking to help contribute to her family’s income.
Her mother, Pat Carlile, recalls her daughter wanting to get money for a down payment on a house.
“She met Randy, and they wanted to get married and did, and they found a house that they wanted to buy, which encouraged them to find out how they could get some money together,” said Carlile.
Denise decided to sell her wedding dress and listed it in the Tulsa World classified section of the paper.
Carlile says about a week later, a man responded to the ad and wanted to see the dress, so they made arrangements for him to meet Denise at Carlile’s home.
“I called her, and I told her, Denise, I don’t feel good about the phone call, so would you please have someone come home with you? and she tried to get someone to go with her that day,” said Carlile.
Unfortunately, Denise could not get anyone to go with her that day, so she ended up meeting the man alone.
“As it turns out, this man was not there to buy the wedding dress and ended up raping and murdering her,” said Eric Cullen.
Eric’s father, Clay Cullen, was the lead investigator in 1981 in the Palmer case and he said it’s a case that haunted his dad for years.
Finding her killer and bringing her family justice is now Eric’s mission.
“As far as taking this on, the main motivating factor for taking this is indeed how bad it bothered my dad and all the different ways he tried to solve this. He even after retirement. It just really bothered him, and to my knowledge, it’s the only case he never solved,” said Cullen.
Cullen said the suspect in this case was described as a man in his 40s at the time and was around 5'8" to 6 feet tall.
He also had a very distinctive birthmark on the side of his face.
Cullen said he is encouraged, though, because there is DNA in this case.
“There was gum found in the bathtub and the semen specimen was I believe discarded through mold over time,” said Cullen.
Investigators said there was also blood discovered on the walls around the tub and they believe it belongs to the suspect.
Despite the DNA in this case, it’s remained unsolved.
“Right now, we have a grant that allows us for some cases. We have only identified a handful of cases that fit the parameters of the grant, but the grant is paying for some,” said Tulsa Police Homicide Lt. Brandon Watkins.
“It’s very frustrating, especially when we have these new technologies and ways to through genealogy when I speak of new technology, and the way that the DNA in the genealogy data bases are they are solving cold case homicides all over the country,” said Cullen.
While investigators hope to lean on the forensic investigative genealogy, Carlile continues to lean on her faith.
She writes in her book, A Place of Springs, “I am thankful that Denise is a Christian and I will get to spend eternity in heaven with her. Time here on earth is short, but eternity is forever.”
She also leans on the power of the Bible and said it’s the one thing that has carried her through all of these painful years.
“God is sovereign and He let me know that her time is 19 years. He gave her to me for 19 years and I was so blessed. Those 19 years, what a gift,” said Carlile.
If you have any information about the suspect in this case, you are asked to contact the Tulsa Police Department.
