On December 21, 1981, Karen Andrea Thomas, a 21-year-old African-American woman and mother to a three-year-old son, was found fatally stabbed in an apartment in the 4900 block of NE 7th in Portland, Oregon. Her brother Kevin Thomas, with the landlord’s help, discovered her body after family members grew worried when they had not heard from her for three days. Karen had recently moved back into her mother and step-father’s home in mid-December after staying in that apartment.

Portland Police investigators interviewed family, friends, and acquaintances but were unable to identify suspects at the time, and the case went cold for sixteen years. A later tip directed attention to Johnny Moore, an African-American man born in 1948, as a person of interest; Moore died of an apparent drug overdose in 2004 before he could be linked to the crime. The case remains unsolved.

Did anyone who knew Johnny Moore ever hear him speak about Karen Thomas or anything similar?