On the night of May 29, 1985, 25-year-old Vicki Gail Purdy was last seen being dropped off by a taxi at the Shorebird Hotel in Waikīkī where she intended to retrieve her car. The vehicle was found in the hotel lot with a fresh dent. When she didn’t return home, her husband paged her with no response.

The next morning her body was found on an embankment near Keehi Lagoon. She was wearing the yellow jumpsuit from the night before; her underwear and shoes were missing. Her hands had been bound behind her back with parachute cord, and she had been sexually assaulted and strangled with a ligature. Police initially examined possible links to her workplace but did not establish a connection.

Purdy’s killing was the first in a series of similar murders attributed to the unidentified Honolulu Strangler. A 27-person task force and FBI assistance failed to produce arrests. Howard Gay was investigated and later died in 2003, but no charges were ever filed. Does anyone who knew Vicki or who lived near Waikīkī or Keehi Lagoon in 1985 have recollections that could help this cold case?