In June 1985, 36-year-old Julianne Jaillet disappeared, leaving behind 10-year-old daughter, Tammy McAdams. More than four decades later, Tammy is still hoping to learn what happened to her mother.
Tammy and her mom were close. Julianne was a single mom and Tammy was her only child. Tammy says they loved spending time together, shopping, doing “all the fun things you do with your mom.” They lived in Washington and moved a couple of times during Tammy’s childhood, including from Ballard to Lynnwood to live with Julianne’s boyfriend, Ian Jaillet. Tammy says she remembers living there for about a year. “I guess things got bad between them, and then they split up, and he pretty much left us stranded,” Tammy told Dateline. “My grandparents went and got us.”
Tammy says Julianne and Ian had an on-and-off relationship. In 1985, Julianne was back together with Ian, and the two quietly got married that January. Tammy stayed with her grandparents because she was in school and her mom worked nights in a nursing home. “My grandparents said, ‘OK, we’re gonna keep her till the end of the school year and let you work nights because, you know, you don’t have someone to watch her when it’s just you and her,’” Tammy told Dateline.
Tammy did not see her mom every day during the school year. Her mom’s house was about 30 minutes away from her grandparents’ place. Tammy last saw her mom on May 25. “My last memory was really good,” she shared. They went shopping at Bellevue Square and had lunch together. Tammy says she remembers going back to her mom’s house in Bellevue for a bit, where she lived with Ian. “I did not care for him, so I did not want to stay the night,” Tammy said. She was driven back to her grandparents’ house…