Leola Douglas was 27 when she was killed on May 20, 1987. Kirkland was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for Douglas’s death and received a 10 to 25 year sentence; he served 16 years and was released on parole in 2004.

Douglas’s brother, Leonard Douglas, has spoken about the pain of losing his sister and has criticized the decision to release Kirkland. The account links Douglas’s murder to a later series of crimes: between 2006 and 2009 Kirkland allegedly killed four more females, burning their bodies after raping them. Kirkland was later convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to death in 2010, though that sentencing was later revisited because of a ruling about prosecutorial misconduct.

Does anyone have memories of Leola or information about the original investigation that could shed light on how the case was handled in 1987?