On August 2, 1974, 15-year-old Karen Beth Amabile was murdered in Onslow County, North Carolina. Karen and a friend, 15-year-old Cindy Howard, had gone to the post office to mail a letter when they accepted a ride from 16-year-old Debra Ann Brown, who knew Karen from school. Marcus Shrader, Brown’s stepfather, was waiting in a van nearby.

According to later testimony, once the girls entered the vehicle Shrader handcuffed and gagged them, taped their eyes, sexually assaulted both, and then strangled them to death. The victims were found clothed only in their underwear in the Bear Creek area of Onslow County.

Shrader, a Navy corpsman stationed at Camp Lejeune, was arrested on August 18, 1974, after a military colleague identified him from a wanted poster. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Cheryl Potter Boyd but was not formally tried for the killings of Karen Amabile, Cindy Howard, or Ginger Rader. Does anyone with memories of Onslow County in 1974 or knowledge of the victims have information to share?