Lydia Madison, 29, was found strangled beneath the South Claiborne Avenue overpass near Earhart Boulevard in New Orleans. Her death was linked to a series of similar killings attributed to an unidentified assailant dubbed the Storyville Slayer. The discovery site was notably close to police headquarters, a detail that heightened public alarm.

Madison had prior arrests for drugs and prostitution and is counted among at least a dozen predominantly African-American female victims whose bodies were often discarded in remote locations such as swamps or canals. The killings began in the summer of 1991 and prompted a joint New Orleans Police Department and FBI task force in May 1995. Two main suspects surfaced during the long investigation: police officer Victor Gant, linked to one victim and resembling a survivor’s sketch, and taxi driver Russell Ellwood, who was arrested in March 1998 on charges in two other murders; charges in one case were later dropped. The probe suggested the possibility of multiple perpetrators.

Does anyone have memories or information about Lydia Madison, her activities, or the area around South Claiborne and Earhart Boulevard from that period?