On March 1, 1986, 85-year-old Annie Rochelle Copeland was found dead in her west Atlanta apartment. Authorities reported she had been raped and smothered with a pillow; her home appeared ransacked, and investigators treated robbery as a possible motive. Copeland was living alone at the time of the attack.

Her killing was the first in a series: over the following weeks three other elderly Black women in the same area were discovered murdered under similar circumstances, prompting a police task force. In late April 1986 authorities arrested 31-year-old Richard Hunter and charged him with Copeland’s murder, rape, and burglary. A warrant filed in court said Hunter had confessed to taking a television from Copeland’s apartment and trading it for narcotics; police said they planned to seek indictments for the other killings as well.

Does anyone have information about Annie Copeland, the neighborhood at that time, or contacts who might remember details that could still be relevant?