Tonya Ward, 23, was found dead in Gillham Park in Kansas City, Missouri, on January 18, 1990. Her death was one of a series of killings in the area that winter, later linked by investigators to a single attacker operating around Gillham Park and nearby streets.

Authorities say the perpetrator targeted women at night, often offering crack cocaine to lure them to secluded spots and then strangling them from behind. A potential victim escaped in April 1990 after a passerby intervened; that survivor provided a description that led police to Ray Shawn Jackson. Jackson later confessed to multiple murders, including Ward’s, and was tried and convicted on six counts of first-degree murder.

Was Tonya known to hang out in the Gillham Park area or to associate with anyone who might have information about her movements that January?