Mary Weems Gowen, 76, was returning home after finishing a babysitting job on the evening of April 9, 1979, when she was attacked at her residence in Richmond, Virginia. Members of the Briley gang followed her, and upon her arrival she was raped, robbed and shot to death.

Her murder was one of several violent crimes attributed to the Briley brothers, Linwood and James, and their accomplices during a wave of terror in Richmond that year. Their arrests and prosecutions became part of the broader effort to stop the gang’s reign of violence.

Does anyone have memories of Mary Gowen, recall the neighborhood where this happened, or have information that could shed more light on her last hours?