Mabel Venable, an 89-year-old Black woman, was found murdered in her Richmond, Virginia home on July 1, 1990. Her death is recorded as the first killing in a series later labeled the Golden Years Murders, a pattern that targeted elderly women living alone.

The initial victims in the series were Black women who were fatally stabbed; as the killings continued, victims included white women who were strangled. The spree prompted widespread fear among the city’s elderly, led residents to install new locks and form neighborhood watches, and drew criticism that investigators treated the Black victims differently from the white victims.

In 2000 a man named Leslie Burchart, described as a mentally ill vagrant, confessed to several of the Golden Years Murders and gave some details not publicly known, but authorities lacked sufficient evidence to charge him. Burchart later recanted and died in 2002, and Venable’s murder remains officially unsolved. Does anyone have information about Venable, her life in Richmond, or the days around July 1, 1990?