In spring 1985, police in New York City found 28-year-old African American woman Lorraine Marshall dead in her apartment from multiple stab wounds. Weeks later her 6-year-old son, James Jose Marshall, was found dead; the child had been strangled. Investigators focused on Lorraine’s boyfriend, Hubert James Allen, who had earlier been a person of interest in the 1979 disappearance of his wife, Angela Elaine Allen. Records show Lorraine had told investigators in 1982 that Hubert had admitted killing Angela, a claim that investigators noted while looking into the later killings.

Authorities concluded the murders of Lorraine and her son were linked to Lorraine’s cooperation about Angela’s disappearance and charged Hubert James Allen. By the end of 1985 he was tried and convicted for the murders of Lorraine and James Jose Marshall. The disappearance of Angela Elaine Allen remains an unresolved element of the story.