Beverly Wortmann was 24 and working as a reporter for the Jackson County Sentinel-Tribune when she was murdered in Kansas City, Missouri. On the evening of December 7, 1977, she told her roommate she was stepping out to buy cigarettes. She returned to the apartment but a man had followed her inside. Wortmann was stabbed nineteen times and her throat was slashed; her body was found in her bedroom, still wearing her coat. The apartment showed no signs of forced entry or a struggle, and nothing of value was taken.

Police briefly questioned a 25-year-old man seen sitting on a stairwell outside her building, but investigators later released him when they found no evidence linking him to the killing. The case remained unsolved for years until a larger investigation led to an arrest and confession by Anthony Joe LaRette Jr., who admitted to Wortmann’s murder among numerous other killings. LaRette was convicted of capital murder for Wortmann’s death and received a death sentence.

Did anyone in Kansas City at the time know Beverly’s routines or remember seeing someone follow her that night?