Charles F. Smith was 18 when his body was found strangled on July 7, 1987, in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. His killing was long described as the first in a series of homicides that targeted gay men across Chesapeake, Suffolk, Isle of Wight County and other nearby jurisdictions — a pattern that prompted a multiagency task force and terrorized the local LGBTQ+ community.

A breakthrough came in May 1997 with the arrest of Elton Manning Jackson in the July 1996 murder of Andrew D. Smith. Jackson was convicted of first-degree murder for that killing, linked by DNA evidence, and sentenced to life in prison on October 27, 1998. He was portrayed at trial as the prime suspect in all 12 killings in the series, and no similar slayings were reported after his conviction.

Despite that, the lead investigator later expressed doubts about whether Charles F. Smith’s 1987 death was actually connected to the other 11 murders, leaving the circumstances of his death ambiguous. Does anyone have information about Charles F. Smith, his movements in 1987, or the investigation into his death?