Renee Welka was 22 and a marketing student at Eastern Michigan University when she was shot and killed after a night out near her home in the Glencoe Hills Apartment Complex in Ann Arbor. On the night of July 29–30, 1994, as she was parking her white Ford Escort at about 2:00 a.m., a man approached the driver’s side and fired a single shot through the rear window. The bullet struck her in the back. She drove roughly 300 yards in the parking lot before losing consciousness; she was taken to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital and died about 3:10 a.m. The passenger in the car was unharmed.

An 18-year-old resident of the complex, Clarence D. Powell, was identified at the scene by Renee’s friend and arrested. He was charged with murder but the charge was later dropped for lack of evidence. Investigators reported finding gunshot residue on Powell’s hands and awaiting ballistics testing, yet no weapon has ever been recovered and authorities have said the case has not progressed to a confirmed resolution. Renee’s family offered a $10,000 reward six years after the killing, and occasional reviews of the file have been reported, but the motive remains unclear and no conviction has been announced.