Carol Brewer was 36 when she was murdered in September 1987 in the Lebanon, Missouri area. She and her 43-year-old husband George Ray Brewer were shot to death with a .22-caliber gun after giving a ride to a hitchhiker, later identified as 36-year-old Howard Franklin Stewart. A third victim, 38-year-old Steven J. Vestal, was also killed by Stewart after he obtained a ride from Vestal. George Brewer’s body was found in a creek bed, and Vestal was discovered dead in his pickup truck in a city park; all three victims had been shot.

Carol was initially reported missing and briefly considered a person of interest in her husband’s death. The investigation widened when Texas authorities contacted Missouri investigators: Stewart had traveled to Texas, committed additional killings there, confessed to acquaintances that he’d killed three people in Missouri, and then died by suicide before he could be arrested. Motive remains unclear; investigators suggested Stewart may have been mentally unbalanced and facing personal problems.