Nicole Townsend was a 32-year-old African-American woman whose body was found in a second-floor attic of an abandoned house at 5223 South Marshfield Avenue on August 13, 1998. Her remains were severely decomposed and partially skeletonized; she had been partly covered with a green blanket and her clothing and the scene raised concerns she had been sexually assaulted. Advanced decomposition initially complicated the autopsy, but a Cook County medical examiner later concluded strangulation was the cause of death.

Investigators recovered a pair of black pantyhose from debris in the attic that tested positive for semen. Forensic DNA matched Andre Crawford, who later gave a videotaped account saying he encountered Townsend in the second week of August 1998, strangled her until she lost consciousness, sexually assaulted her while unconscious, left and returned to assault her again, and covered her before leaving. Crawford was arrested in January 2000, charged in Townsend’s killing, tried with other cases, and convicted by a jury on December 10, 2009.

Did anyone in the neighborhood around Marshfield Avenue in 1998 remember seeing Townsend or noticing activity at that abandoned house?