Carolyn Barney, a 29-year-old Black woman, was found dead on May 29, 1987, in a vacant lot in the 9700 block of Grandee Avenue in Watts, Los Angeles. Her death was investigated as a homicide. The lot where her body was discovered was on the same block where the parents of the man later convicted in her killing lived.

Two years after her death, Louis Craine was arrested and tried for Barney’s murder along with three other killings. Prosecutors won convictions on four counts of murder; Craine, described during the trial as an unemployed construction worker, was sentenced to death. His defense emphasized his fourth-grade education and an IQ of 69 and said he was illiterate. Craine died in a prison hospital within months of his conviction from an undisclosed ailment.

If anyone knew Carolyn, her routine, or saw anything in the 9700 block of Grandee Avenue around late May 1987, please share what might help complete the picture.