The Mystery of The Freeway Phantom
50 years later, the identity of the serial killer who targeted black women is still unknown.
In the early 1970s in the Washington DC area of the USA, a killer had begun abducting and murdering girls and young women off the streets. They were all African-American, all deemed ‘low-risk’, and the way in which they were slain suggested a serial offender.
After a 17-month reign of terror, the murderer suddenly stopped and — astonishingly — his true identity has never been revealed. Now, the victims’ surviving family members have been left wondering if they will ever get answers.
The killings start
Carol Spinks was just 13 when she set out to a grocery store near her home on April 25th 1971. She never returned and after a frantic search, her body was discovered on an embankment known as I-295 six days later.
Police and the medical examiner concluded she had been dead for two to three days and that someone had apparently been feeding her while keeping her hostage for the remainder of the time she had been gone. Carol was missing the blue tennis shoes she had been wearing.
On July 8th, 16-year-old Darlenia Johnson disappeared after setting off to walk to work. Two witnesses reported seeing the…
