Tamika Cromer had been missing four days.
Her 15-year old lifeless, severely burned body was found on a February afternoon in 1996 — a bra wrapped around her neck — with a cigarette butt, bag of cocaine and gas can nearby, according to court records.
She was left alone under a bridge, in a secluded, woody area near the Trinity River, now known as the Cedar Crest Bridge Gateway in Southern Dallas.
Three decades have passed. But a defendant is scheduled to go on trial for Cromer's murder on Monday. Steven Augusta Ridge, 59, is the only man among 10 trillion who likely left her there, DNA results suggest.
Ridge is scheduled to stand trial beginning Monday in Dallas County for capital murder and sexual assault. He was arrested and held in the Dallas County jail on a $2.5 million bond in October 2023, which was later reduced to $1 million.
Earlier that year he had been arrested for not complying with sex offender registration, according to county documents.
His attorney, Messina Madson, was unavailable for comment before the publication deadline for this story.
Dallas County District Attorney spokesperson Claire Crouch said DA John Creuzot nor prosecutors could comment on the case or its related circumstances while it is ongoing.
Court documents say Cromer's autopsy indicated that "her death was a violent homicide: she suffered blunt force injuries, strangulation, and thermal burns" and evidence was found of sexual assault by a male.
That DNA collected from Cromer's autopsy helped the Dallas County Medical Examiner office and the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences find a likely match three years ago in the Combined DNA Index System, CODIS.
Preserving forensic evidence to wait for scientific technology to catch up had been a passion initiative of now-retired Dallas County Medical Examiner Jeffrey Barnard.
Coupled with the District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Unit and Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), a case against Ridge was possible by using forensic genetic advances.
Ridge's indictment says that he caused Cromer's death by asphyxiating her "with a brassiere, and ligature, and hands, and other object unknown" and by setting her on fire.
He is also accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 1988 and his former wife in 1992 — the mother of the couple's two sons who were killed in a 1997 car wreck in which Ridge was the driver.
His blood alcohol level had been .10 and he served 180 days in the Dallas County jail for intoxication manslaughter.
Ridge is also accused of assaulting another former wife in 2016.
Court records show Ridge has a history of drug and alcohol use and related arrests.
Got a tip? Email Marina Trahan Martinez at mmartinez@kera.org. You can follow Marina at @HisGirlHildy.
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