Velma Howard, a 50-year-old woman from Chicago, was found murdered on February 24, 2014. Her body was discovered wrapped in a blanket in an alley at 622 North Homan Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. She had been strangled to death.

Her killing was noted as part of a troubling pattern of strangulation homicides targeting women in parts of the city. Investigators and analysts saw similarities between Howard’s case and other unsolved murders in nearby neighborhoods, and her death became part of a broader discussion about women left in vacant lots, alleys, or abandoned buildings. The case remained unsolved and added to community concern about dangers faced by vulnerable women in high-crime areas.

Did anyone in Humboldt Park at the time notice anything out of the ordinary around February 24, 2014 that could help explain what happened to Velma Howard?