Virginia Goebel, 32, was working as a clerk at the Gulf Majik Market on Indian River Road in Virginia Beach on the evening of April 14, 1985 when she was found on the store floor, having been shot in the head during a robbery. She was a mother of two; the shooting ended her life and devastated her family and community.

Authorities charged Richard Townes Jr. in the case. Prosecutors said he robbed the market and shot Goebel to eliminate the only witness who could identify him. Townes represented himself at trial in 1986; the jury convicted him of Goebel’s murder and sentenced him to death. Some jurors later signed affidavits saying they would have chosen life if they had known a life term then carried no possibility of parole.

Townes was later executed; his last words to the warden were an assertion of innocence. Goebel’s mother described mixed feelings, including pity for the killer’s family. Does anyone have memories of the Gulf Majik Market or of Virginia Goebel that could help preserve her story?