Due to the graphic nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised.

This episode contains discussion of rape, substance abuse, murder and sexual assault.

Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13.

It was a mild November day.

Maybe the last one the city of Philadelphia would see that year.

But Mary didn't notice the sunlight pushing through the clouds.

Mary walked the stroll.

A stretch of Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood popular with sex workers.

Her feet stuck to the sidewalk as she avoided garbage.

The L train roared above and Mary shook.

Mary was on edge.

She'd felt this way for weeks.

She dipped a hand into a coat pocket and pulled out a cigarette.

Mary hoped a smoke would do the trick and calm her nerves.

A few other women huddled nearby could probably help with a light.

But as Mary reached the others, her colleague's worried faces only inflamed her anxiety.

The asked of Mary had heard about the dead woman on Cumberland Street.

Mary shook her head no.

Her thumb snapped to the lighter while the others kept talking.

One woman heard the body was left out in the open, half naked and exposed.

One else heard the dead woman was strangled.

Suddenly, Mary couldn't breathe.

...