On December 5, 2003, 56-year-old real estate agent Nancy Dunning was found dead at the bottom of the front foyer staircase in her Alexandria, Virginia home on West Mount Ida Avenue. Her son, Chris Dunning, discovered her after she failed to arrive for a scheduled lunch with him and her husband, then-Alexandria Sheriff Jim Dunning. She had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.

The investigation stalled for years until similar daytime home shootings in Alexandria — of Ron Kirby in November 2013 and music teacher Ruthanne Lodato in February 2014 — showed striking parallels: respected community members killed in their homes after an intruder knocked at the front door, and bullets of the same distinct caliber. A surviving caregiver at Lodato’s shooting provided a description that led to a police sketch and, ultimately, to a suspect.

Charles Severance was later charged in the three slayings. The prosecutions emphasized writings attributed to him that referenced knocking, entering, and killing.