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Killing of Carol Jenkins

COLD1968Martinsville, Indiana, United States2 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
File:Carol Jenkins Indianapolis News 8 September 1969 edition.jpg
File:Carol Jenkins Indianapolis News 8 September 1969 edition.jpg — Credit: Professional portrait, likely commissioned by Paul and Elizabeth Davis, c. 1965. · Public domain

Carol Marie Jenkins was born April 21, 1947, in Franklin, Indiana, and raised in Rushville, Indiana, by her mother and stepfather along with five siblings. She graduated from Rushville High School in 1965 and later worked at a Ford Motor Company plant in Connersville. In September 1968, amid a plant strike, she took temporary work as a door-to-door saleswoman for a Collier's Encyclopedia sales crew.

On September 16, 1968, Jenkins's sales crew's route changed at the last minute, sending them to Martinsville, Indiana, a city with a documented history of racial segregation. While canvassing alone, Jenkins was followed and racially harassed by two young white men in a car. She sought help from a young married couple, Donald Lee and Norma Jean Neal, who let her into their home and called police. After leaving the Neal residence and setting out to meet her colleagues, Jenkins was attacked around 9 p.m. on East Morgan Street: one assailant held her arms while the other stabbed her once in the chest with a flat-blade screwdriver, fatally wounding her heart. She was pronounced dead at Morgan County Hospital at 9:25 p.m.

The initial investigation identified and cleared two men who had followed and taunted Jenkins earlier that evening, as their alibis for the time of the murder were verified. Despite a reward offered by the NAACP and P. F. Collier and Son, and despite pressure from the NAACP on federal authorities, the case went cold within weeks and remained unsolved for over 30 years.

In 2000, Jenkins's mother received an anonymous call from a woman later identified as Connie McQueen, who said more than one person had been involved and that a screwdriver was used. Renewed investigation by Indiana State Police cold case detectives followed. McQueen, who had been seven years old at the time and riding in the back seat of her father's car, gave investigators a detailed account of the killing, including the color of a yellow scarf Jenkins had been wearing—a detail investigators had withheld from the public and which corroborated her account.

Richmond was arrested on May 8, 2002, at an Indianapolis nursing home and charged with first-degree murder. He was later declared incompetent to stand trial due to declining health, and died of bladder cancer on August 31, 2002, having reportedly confessed to the killing on his deathbed. His alleged accomplice was never identified. The Neals, who had assisted Jenkins and cooperated with police, faced harassment from some local residents and eventually left the city. In 2017, Martinsville officials formally apologized to Jenkins's family and dedicated a memorial to her at City Hall; a community park in Rushville was also renamed in her honor.

Key facts

Victims
Carol Jenkins
Date
1968
Location
Martinsville, Indiana, United States
Case status
cold

Case timeline

  1. 1947-04-21

    Carol Marie Jenkins is born in Franklin, Indiana.

  2. 1965

    Jenkins graduates from Rushville High School and begins work at the Philco Division of the Ford Motor Company in Connersville, Indiana.

  3. 1968-09

    Jenkins takes temporary employment as a door-to-door encyclopedia saleswoman for a Collier's Encyclopedia sales crew.

  4. 1968-09-16

    Jenkins is harassed and later fatally stabbed in Martinsville, Indiana, while walking alone to meet her sales crew colleagues.

  5. 1968-09-19

    Jenkins is laid to rest at East Hill Cemetery in Rush County, Indiana; two men who had followed and taunted her earlier that evening turn themselves in and are later cleared.

  6. 2000-06

    Jenkins's mother receives an anonymous phone call from a woman claiming to know the killer's identity and details of the murder.

  7. 2000-09-29

    Indiana State Police cold case unit assigns investigators Maurice Allcron and Alan McElroy to re-investigate the murder.

  8. 2001-11

    Martinsville Police receive an anonymous letter naming Kenneth Clay Richmond as the murderer and identifying his daughter as a witness.

  9. 2002-01

    Shirley Richmond McQueen confronts her father, Kenneth Richmond, about her recollections of the murder; he denies killing Jenkins.

  10. 2002-05-08

    Kenneth Richmond is arrested at an Indianapolis nursing home and charged with first-degree murder.

  11. 2002-08-31

    Richmond dies of bladder cancer at age 70, having reportedly confessed to the killing on his deathbed.

  12. 2017-11

    Martinsville community leaders formally apologize to Jenkins's family and dedicate a memorial stone in her honor at City Hall; a Rushville park is renamed in her memory.

  13. 2020-11

    Donald Neal, who had assisted Jenkins on the night of her murder, dies of bone marrow cancer at age 70.

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People

  • Carol Jenkins

    VICTIM

    21-year-old African-American door-to-door encyclopedia saleswoman fatally stabbed in a racially motivated attack on September 16, 1968.

  • Kenneth Clay Richmond

    CHARGED

    Charged with first-degree murder in May 2002 following a witness tip; later declared incompetent to stand trial and died before trial.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Archival records

  • File:Carol Jenkins Indianapolis News 8 September 1969 edition.jpg

    portrait victim

    File:Carol Jenkins Indianapolis News 8 September 1969 edition.jpg

    Credit: Professional portrait, likely commissioned by Paul and Elizabeth Davis, c. 1965. · Public domain · Source

Places

Martinsville, Indiana, United States

39.4278, -86.4223

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Common questions

What happened to the victim?
Carol Jenkins, a 21-year-old Black door-to-door encyclopedia saleswoman, was fatally stabbed in a racially motivated attack in Martinsville, Indiana, on September 16, 1968. The case went unsolved for over three decades until a tip from a witness's daughter led to the 2002 arrest of Kenneth Clay Richmond, who died before facing trial.
Where did the killing happen?
Martinsville, Indiana, United States.
What is the current status of the case?
Status: cold.
More cases in Indiana

Sources

  1. PRESSIndiana Man Held in Woman's 1968 Slaying Dies of CancerLos Angeles Times · 2026-07-11
  2. ENCYCLOPEDICMurder of Carol JenkinsWikipedia · 2026-07-10