Teresa Marie Dempster, 27, was found shot to death in the outskirts of Glendale, Arizona, in November 1988 alongside 42-year-old David Richard Uhl. Reports identified Dempster as a suspected drug supplier and Uhl as a salesman. The pair’s murders were the opening crimes in a multi-state spree carried out by John Martini and his girlfriend Theresa Afdahl.

After the Arizona killings, Martini and Afdahl fled east and assumed new identities in New Jersey. In January 1989 they kidnapped warehouse executive Irving Flax in Fair Lawn, collected a $25,000 ransom at a Paramus diner, and Flax was found the next day shot three times in the back of the head in a mall parking lot. Authorities arrested Martini and Afdahl at a Fort Lee motel on January 25, 1989, recovering the ransom money and a firearm.

Martini faced capital murder charges in New Jersey and Arizona; in August 1992 he pleaded guilty in Arizona to the murders of Dempster and Uhl and received a 50-year sentence. Afdahl also received a 50-year sentence for her role. Does anyone have additional information about Teresa Dempster’s life or connections in Glendale that could shed light on why she was targeted?