Karen Hickman was a 24-year-old Army private stationed at Fort Benning whose life ended in a brutal killing in September 1977. Her body was found on or near the military installation at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia, having been beaten with a blunt object; later accounts say she was also run over by a car. Some reports say her clothing was recovered later after an anonymous tip.

The case remained unsolved publicly for months until Army Specialist William Henry Hance emerged as a suspect during inquiries into a string of killings connected to women around Fort Benning. Hance confessed to Karen Hickman’s murder and was tried by court-martial, convicted for her killing and another, and received a life sentence at hard labor in the military proceeding. He was also prosecuted in civilian court for another victim and received a separate death sentence.

Karen Hickman is remembered only in fragments: a young soldier active in the nightlife around the post whose death initially entered the record as a mysterious, violent discovery. Did anyone who knew Karen or who was in the Fort Benning area in 1977 see anything that could shed more light on her last hours?