Catina Newmaster, a 25-year-old white woman, disappeared in Poughkeepsie, New York, in late August 1998 after being last seen around downtown streets where other women had vanished. Her disappearance became linked to a larger pattern of missing women in the city that had been worrying neighbors and investigators for months.

On September 1, 1998, a woman escaped an assault and contacted police, which led officers to the home Kendall Francois shared with his parents and sister. Investigators found decomposing remains inside the house; forensic work later confirmed Newmaster as one of the victims. Francois was arrested, charged in connection with Newmaster’s murder, and indicted in early September 1998. Prosecutors later expanded charges as more identifications were made.

Kendall Francois pleaded guilty in 2000 to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced that year to life in prison without parole for the killings. He was also convicted in connection with the attempted assault of the woman who escaped and alerted police. Does anyone have memories of Poughkeepsie in 1998 or information that could shed light on Catina’s last known movements?