On May 27, 1976, a double shooting at a house on Karlyn Drive in the Overview Gardens community of New Castle County, Delaware, left 23-year-old Renita Bryant dead and 33-year-old former Wilmington patrolman Roy McIntyre wounded.

Police focused on people connected to the victim. Her estranged husband, Jesse J. Bryant, then a 29-year-old Chester, Pennsylvania policeman, was charged in the Karlyn Drive shootings that killed Renita Bryant and injured McIntyre. A second man, Donald Watson, 22, was arrested in Chester as a fugitive wanted in Delaware in connection with the slaying.

The prosecution of Jesse J. Bryant resulted in a guilty verdict in May 1979: Murder in the First Degree for the killing of Renita Bryant, plus Attempted Murder, multiple Conspiracy counts, Possession of a Deadly Weapon During Commission of a Felony, and Burglary. He received two consecutive life sentences plus 30 years; the life term was later clarified to be without the possibility of parole. Anyone with memories of Renita, the neighborhood, or the investigation is asked to share what they know.