On March 17, 1977, 26-year-old Shirley Ruth Vian Relford was murdered in her Wichita, Kansas, home. A mother of three young children and a choir singer known for her joyful spirit, she was attacked after a man posing as a private detective approached her young son, used a fabricated story and a photo to learn the family’s address, then forced his way into the house at gunpoint.

The attacker locked the children, ages 4, 6 and 8, in a bathroom with toys and a blanket and threatened to kill them if they tried to escape. He tied up Shirley Relford, placed a plastic bag over her head and strangled her to death. Court testimony later described the attacker’s admission that he had considered killing the children, and that the children managed to flee through a bathroom window.

The perpetrator was later identified as Dennis Rader, who confessed to this murder among others. Shirley’s children, including her son Steven who was present during the attack, confronted him in court about the harm done to their family. Does anyone have memories of Shirley or details about the neighborhood that could shed light on her life before that night?