On May 14, 1997, 55-year-old Joan Brock was found beaten to death in the backyard of her home in LaPlace, Louisiana. The victim’s husband employed an auto mechanic at his car-repair shop, a man who had been welcomed into the Brocks’ lives.

The investigation identified 35-year-old auto mechanic Daniel J. Blank as a suspect. Under questioning, Blank confessed to killing Joan Brock and to a series of violent attacks across three Louisiana parishes. He said a gambling habit led him to steal from victims to support his addiction, and he admitted to bludgeoning, stabbing and otherwise attacking several older, well-off people who had trusted him. Blank was charged with six murders and two attempted murders; at trial a videotaped confession was played in which he described stabbing Joan Brock. A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death by lethal injection for her murder.

Are there readers who knew Joan Brock or have information about her life or that period in LaPlace?