Second woman found murdered in Nashville basement in 1987 identified, police say

What This Story Is About

• The second of two women found murdered in the basement of a Nashville home on Charlotte Avenue nearly 40 years ago has been identified.

Why It Matters

• The woman was identified nearly 40 years later.

What Happens Next

• Police notified the woman’s family that she has been identified.

For Context

• An Illinois woman was identified as victim of 1980s Nashville double homicide

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The second of two women found murdered in the basement of a Nashville home on Charlotte Avenue nearly 40 years ago has been identified.

Using forensic genetic genealogy, the Metro Nashville Police Department identified the woman as Toni L. Gordon, who was 31 years old when she was killed.

Gordon and 23-year-old Sheila Cummings, who was identified in 2025, were murdered by James Shaffer, police said.

Shaffer confessed to the killings after the women were discovered in 1987 in shallow graves beneath the basement’s dirt floor in the home he was renting at the time. Police said Shaffer also referred to Gordon as “Lil Bit.”

Police said they believe the killings took place two years earlier.

Before Gordon was identified, her family believed she had moved out of state and lost contact with them. Police said they notified her family of the identification.

Shaffer, who received two life sentences for the murders, died in prison in 2004.