Emma Cook, a 54-year-old Black woman, was sexually assaulted, severely beaten and strangled in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Christmas Eve 1983. Her killing occurred amid a series of attacks in the city’s predominantly African American northwest neighborhoods where victims were repeatedly sexually assaulted and suffocated. Family members identified and buried her during the holiday season while the case moved out of public attention.

Eddie Lee Mosley, released from prison nine days before Cook’s death, became a central suspect over the following years. Investigators confronted him in 1987; he confessed to killing Cook and another woman, Teresa Giles. Psychological evaluations later found him incompetent to stand trial, and a jury never reached a verdict. Subsequent DNA testing linked Mosley to Cook’s sexual assault and murder, but further psychiatric findings again prevented prosecution and he remained confined to state institutions until his death in 2020.

Anyone who knew Emma, her routines, or has information about northwest Fort Lauderdale in 1983 is asked to come forward.