Mary Pauquette, a 72-year-old African-American woman, was brutally murdered on September 11, 1983, in Los Angeles. She lived alone in the East Hollywood–Silverlake area and was one of several elderly women targeted in a series of violent attacks against isolated seniors during the early 1980s.

Pauquette’s death involved extreme violence: she was beaten, stabbed, strangled, and sexually assaulted. Investigators later linked her killing to a pattern of similar crimes. Law enforcement identified Brandon Tholmer, 29, as a prime suspect after his arrest on November 7, 1983, during an attempted break-in at another elderly woman’s home. A subsequent search of Tholmer’s apartment reportedly turned up over 200 items—jewelry, photographs, and personal belongings—connected to multiple victims, and he was charged in several of the cases, including Pauquette’s.

The attack on Mary Pauquette highlighted the particular vulnerability of elderly people living alone in that neighborhood and drew attention to recurring elements tying these crimes together. If anyone knew Mary, saw unusual activity in East Hollywood or Silverlake in 1983, or has information about victims from that period, please come forward.