Verna Patricia Williams, a 36-year-old Black woman, was found dead on May 26, 1986, in the stairwell of 68th Street School in Los Angeles. Students discovered her body; authorities determined she had been strangled. At the time police suspected her death was connected to a string of killings in South Los Angeles dating back to 1983 attributed to an unidentified assailant nicknamed the Southside Slayer. Williams was believed to be the 17th woman linked to that pattern and had prior arrests for prostitution, a trait shared by many victims in the series.

Her case went unsolved for years until DNA later tied convicted serial killer Michael Hughes to Williams and other victims. Hughes had been previously convicted in 1998 for four first-degree murders and was later linked by DNA to additional killings in Los Angeles. Williams’ death is part of a broader, troubling pattern of serial violence in South Los Angeles in the 1980s and 1990s that targeted primarily young African American women.

If anyone knew Verna Williams, her whereabouts before May 26, 1986, or saw anything near 68th Street School that day, please share information.