between april 1971 and september 1972, six young Black girls disappeared from southeast washington, d.c. they were ten to eighteen years old. they were walking home from the store. going to work. going to night class. coming home from a boyfriend's house.

their bodies were found along highways in and around d.c. and maryland.

Carol Spinks. Darlenia Johnson. Brenda Crockett. Nenomoshia Yates. Brenda Woodard. Diane Williams.

at first the murders were not connected. different detectives worked different cases in a city overwhelmed by homicides. the media barely covered it. by the time investigators recognized the pattern, most of the girls were already dead.

the killer named himself. a note torn from brenda woodard's own school notebook was signed "free-way phantom." handwriting analysis determined she had been forced to writ ...