In the early morning hours of Sunday, April 20, 1980, 17-year-old Shirley Small was found stabbed to death on a lawn at 2820 Page Street in Ann Arbor. A senior at Pioneer High School, Small was discovered fully clothed with her purse nearby, suffering a fatal stab wound to the chest and multiple cuts to her face. Investigators reported no initial indications of sexual assault.

On the night of her death she had been out with friends, roller skating in Farmington and later going to a Big Boy in Ypsilanti. After a breakup with her boyfriend she began walking home and was seen walking along Packard Road about 3:45 a.m., refusing a ride from her ex. About an hour later she was attacked just feet from her apartment in the Georgetown Townhouses. Detectives initially had no clear motive or significant evidence.

Two other women, Glenda Richmond and Rebecca Huff, were killed later that year under similar circumstances, and investigators pursued a possible serial connection. A suspect, Coral Eugene Watts, later confessed to multiple murders, including admissions involving the Ann Arbor killings; he was convicted in Michigan of other murders and died in prison in 2007.

Did anyone in Ann Arbor at the time remember seeing Shirley that night or know more about her route home?