Sandra Sue Brake was 19 when she was killed in Houma, Louisiana, on the evening of August 14, 1977. She was inside the mobile home of 33-year-old Bobby Todd when David Dene Martin entered with a stolen .357 Magnum and opened fire. Todd was shot first; Martin then fired additional rounds at others in the trailer. Sandra was struck twice in the heart and suffered defensive wounds, indicating she tried to fend off the attack.

Two other people, 27-year-old Terry Hebert and 19-year-old Anne Tierney, were also killed in the incident; a total of four people died. Martin fired fifteen shots and paused twice to reload. He was arrested shortly afterward, confessed to multiple people, and later said he had no memory of the event because he had been intoxicated.

A jury found Martin guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in April 1978 and sentenced him to death. Anyone who knew Sandra, the trailer’s occupants, or witnessed events around Houma on August 14, 1977, is asked to share what they remember.