Kathleen Mikula was 16 when she was shot and killed on June 15, 1980, while walking across the Washington Street Bridge in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with her boyfriend, Arthur Dale Smothers. Both were struck by a sniper attack; Kathleen was white and Smothers was Black, and the killings have been described as racially motivated.

Joseph Paul Franklin, a white supremacist linked to a series of racially and religiously motivated murders, later confessed to these killings. He was arrested and charged in connection with multiple murders, including those of Kathleen and Smothers. The case attracted attention because of Franklin’s pattern of targeted violence and his eventual confession.

Kathleen’s death is remembered alongside other victims of this spree as an example of lethal racial hatred. If anyone knew Kathleen, Arthur, or saw activity on the Washington Street Bridge that day, please share what might help clarify the events of June 15, 1980.