Vera Campbell lived alone in a single, detached house on 45th Street. On December 11, 1993, Campbell's daughter showed up at the house to check on Campbell after trying unsuccessfully for two days to contact her. The daughter found the side security door unlocked and standing open. When the daughter went inside, she found her mother deceased lying on the floor in one of the rooms. Campbell had apparently been strangled and beaten to death and the house had been ransacked.