Unsolved Killing of Tuscaloosa Woman Reaches Grim Anniversary
Monday marks seven years since Kate Ragsdale was brutally murdered in her home in Tuscaloosa's Highlands neighborhood, a killing that remains one of the only unsolved homicides in Tuscaloosa County in the last decade.
Captain Jack Kennedy, the commander of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit, reminded media partners of the grim anniversary in a press release Monday afternoon.
Kennedy said Ragsdale was found dead on February 24th, 2013 in her home in the Highlands and evidence from the scene showed she had been murdered.
Ragsdale, 73, was retired from the University of Alabama where she was planning officer of the Universities Library System.
Despite extensive investigation, this case has never been closed. Almost all homicides in the area lead to an arrest, and the homicide unit's only open cases in the last 10 years are the Ragsdale killing and the July 2019 shooting death of Zakia Bibbs.
Kennedy said the Ragsdale case is currently active, and is continuously reviewed and all new leads are investigated. As new technologies are developed and become available, evidence is evaluated to see if it would be beneficial for new testing.
There is currently a combined $25,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest or closure of this case.
Investigators hope that the reward as well as the passage of time may assist any potential witnesses with the decision to come forward.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit at (205) 464-8690 and finally bring justice for Ragsdale, who was killed more than 2,500 days ago.