Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.

And I'm Brett.

And the story I have for you today is a lot of things.

Brutal, tragic, shocking, frustrating, and so much more.

It's about a woman who, at the prime of her life, was violently murdered in her own home.

She almost escaped, and her killer almost did too.

This is the story of Karen Gregory.

At around 8.30 in the morning of Thursday, May 24, 1984, the phone rings at Amy Brustler's

house.

Amy lives on a quiet street in Gulfport, Florida.

And when she picks up the phone, on the other end, she hears the voice of her 29-year-old

neighbor, David Mackie.

And Amy can tell right away by the tone of his voice that something is wrong.

David says that he's been trying to reach his girlfriend, 36-year-old Karen Gregory, since

Tuesday evening.

But he hadn't been able to get a hold of her.

You see, he's in Rhode Island for work at a conference this week, but even so, it's

not like Karen to be out of touch for this long.

He says he's called the house.

He's called her friends, her sister, even her new boss, but no one has seen or heard

from her since Tuesday.

David said they'd even tried the police stations and hospitals, thinking maybe there were some

...