A Girl Viciously Stabbed On Her First Day At Work
No one knew why or who murdered Carol Jenkins until a little girl’s secret surfaced 34 years later.
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Carol had big dreams as a young African-American girl growing up in the small Rushville community of Indiana. She wanted to move to Chicago and pursue a career as a fashion model. But, for that, Carol needed money and was prepared to work hard for it. It led her to Martinsville in September 1968 to sell encyclopedias door-to-door. Little did she know fate had different plans for her in Martinsville.
Follows Her Passion
Carol was a sweet and naïve girl who always met people with a smile. She never gave anyone trouble, not even her mother, Elizabeth Gooden, when she married her stepfather, Paul Davis, in 1949. Even though Davis had five more children with Elizabeth, he treated Carol as if she were one of his own.
When Carol was a teenager, she found her passion in fashion modeling, and Paul was her biggest supporter. He encouraged her when she went to work in a factory after finishing high school to save up money to pursue her dream. But, due to a strike, that factory closed, forcing her to look for work elsewhere. She eventually found another job in Martinsville selling encyclopedias door to door.
But, this time, Paul was slightly hesitant to let her go there since Martinsville “was no more or less a hotbed of the Ku Klux Klan than any other Indiana town”. He feared that something might happen to Carol but could also see how adamant she was in accomplishing her goal. Maybe if he had listened to his gut feeling, Carol would still be alive today.
New Job Turns Into A Nightmare
On 16 September 1968, 21-year-old Carol arrived at Martinsville at 4: 30 pm with three other sales team members. They parted ways to cover more ground. Though nervous on her first day at work, Carol headed towards east downtown. It had been three hours when she suddenly knocked on the door of the Neals.
As soon as Don and Norma Neal opened the door, they met a terrified Carol who had trouble making out her words. She apologized, explaining that two white men in a dark sedan were stalking her. The…
