Jo Ann Parnell was 41 and living a transient life as a bartender when she was found beaten and strangled on or around July 18, 1977, abandoned on the shoulder of a highway in Pasco County, Florida. Her killing occurred amid a cluster of violent crimes against women in the Tampa Bay area that summer, prompting a multi-county investigative response and fears of a possible serial offender. Many victims from that period were found nude or partially nude and had been strangled or shot.

Investigators eventually linked the murder to 44-year-old Gene Arthur Wirtjes. Wirtjes was already jailed in July 1977 on an unrelated truck theft charge and had allegedly stabbed someone at a bar on July 5, 1977; Parnell was to be a witness in that aggravated battery case. Authorities concluded Wirtjes killed Parnell to prevent her testimony. On January 12, 1979, Wirtjes received a 25-year sentence for her murder.

Does anyone have memories of that summer along the Dale Mabry Strip or information about Parnell’s life in the local bars that could add context to her case?