On the night of July 16, 2016, Rickie Jolene Bowen Morgan, 35, was found naked and covered in blood on the 2400 block of Jasper Street in Kensington, Philadelphia. She had been lured into a back lot alley, struck in the head with a brick, and stabbed eight times, suffering fatal cuts to her carotid artery and jugular vein. Despite her injuries she ran from the northwest corner of Cumberland and Letterly streets before collapsing at 2468 Jasper Street and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Rickie was a mother of two who worked on the street and struggled with addiction; family and friends remembered her as loving and helpful. In the months after her murder a string of violent assaults on women in Kensington, especially those involved in prostitution, raised concerns about a possible serial attacker. Investigators later linked Byron Shamor Allen Jr., arrested in a separate killing in December 2016, to several Kensington assaults and named him a person of interest in Morgan’s case; a suspect already incarcerated was formally arrested and charged on November 9, 2022. The family continues to seek justice and remember Rickie.

If anyone knew Rickie, her movements that night, or saw suspicious activity around Jasper, Cumberland or Letterly streets, please come forward with information.