A group of Tennessee high school students cracked an infamous ‘80s cold case — the “Redhead Murders” — after law enforcement task forces hit decades’ of dead ends. 

Up to 14 bodies of young, White women with red or reddish hair were dumped along highways in a relatively small radius in Tennessee, Kentucky and other neighboring states between 1983 and 1985. 

The peculiar details were more than a coincidence, and fears of a hunting killer sparked the creation of a multi-state law enforcement task force in 1985, but the investigation didn’t bear any fruit.

The case seemed hopeless, and the killer (or killers) would become a faceless boogeyman until 2018, when 20 students from Elizabethton High School connected at least six of the victims to a man they called the “Bible Belt Strangler” for a class project. 

TBI Director David Rausch said he wanted this case to “provide hope for other families in our state who are still waiting for answers.”

“Our team will never give up on unsolved cases like this one as long as there are viable leads to follow,” Rausch said.

Chris Eberhart is a crime and US news reporter for Fox News Digital. Email tips to [email protected] or on Twitter @ChrisEberhart48.