Dotsie Blackburn, a 27-year-old white woman, vanished from Rochester, New York, on March 18, 1988. Her sister reported her missing that day. On March 24 hunters found a body in Salmon Creek along Route 31 at the edge of the Genesee River Gorge; the face was frozen and the body was pulled from the water.

The medical examiner, Nick Forbes, recorded strangulation as the cause of death and ruled out drowning because there was no water in the lungs. The examination noted heavy bruising consistent with a beating, severe genital injury including marks described as teeth impressions, blunt-force wounds, and an unusual patterned indentation across the chest. With little physical evidence directly pointing to a single attacker, the case initially faded from urgent attention.

Other bodies later surfaced near the same river corridor, and investigators intensified focus on dump sites and access points along waterways. In January 1990 Arthur John Shawcross was arrested near Salmon Creek; he was later tried and convicted on multiple Monroe County murders and Blackburn was identified among the victims tied to him. Did anyone who knew Dotsie before March 18, 1988, notice anything that might help fill gaps about her last days?