Janette Thompson was 25 when she disappeared from the Allison Hill neighborhood of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania after leaving a bar on January 11, 1990. Remains identified as hers were recovered in 1990 or 1991. A man named William Kelly confessed and pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years, but later DNA testing implicated Joseph Daniel Miller and Kelly was released.

Joseph Daniel Miller, born September 2, 1964, in Steelton, Pennsylvania, is reported to have targeted young African American women in the Harrisburg area between 1986 and 1990, often offering rides, taking victims to secluded locations, then assaulting and killing them. He later confessed to multiple murders, was convicted in several cases, received death sentences that were commuted to life terms, and has been given additional life sentences after further confessions. Miller is serving multiple life sentences at the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill.