On the morning of June 14, 1971, 19-year-old Katherine Louise Winston was one of eight people found shot inside a red-brick house on Hazelwood Street in Detroit in what became known as the Hazelwood massacre. Police described the house as a suspected narcotics den; seven victims, including Katherine, were discovered dead in the living room and many had been shot in the head at close range. Three of the women had their hands bound with rubber surgical tubing. The eighth victim, Robert Gardner, was taken to Henry Ford Hospital by his wife after she found him shot.

Investigators treated the scene as a targeted, drug-related killing, believing Gardner — described as a heroin dealer and pimp — was the primary target and that the other seven were killed to eliminate witnesses. Witnesses reported seeing four men fleeing the scene wearing windbreakers and tam o shanter hats, but despite a 20-detective task force, no arrests have ever been made and the case remains unsolved.