Gail Leslie Slocum, 34, was found stabbed to death in the yard of her Oakland Rockridge home on December 8, 1981. Her killing was one of several brutal East Bay murders from the late 1970s and early 1980s that remained unsolved for decades.

A forensic breakthrough came after Charles Jackson, a convicted killer serving life for a 1982 rape and murder, died in Folsom prison in February 2002. DNA testing later linked Jackson, identified in some records as The East Bay Slayer, to Slocum’s murder and to multiple other killings and assaults between 1975 and 1981. Jackson had an extensive criminal history, including convictions for burglary, rape, assault, and child molestation; he died of a heart attack in prison before any new charges could be brought in these cold cases.

Does anyone have recollections from Oakland in 1981 or information about Slocum that could add context to the case?