The It was easy to get lost in the 90s and 1990s in Los Angeles. The city was rife with

turmoil and entire neighborhoods sunk deep into decrepit disrepair from the ongoing crack

epidemic. Crime rates and homelessness were high. Higher than residents had ever seen them before. For many, the future

looked bleak. It was little surprised to find women assaulted and murdered, especially in

neighborhoods that were known to harbor drug dealers and desperate, oftentimes homeless, sex workers.

Case after case of murdered women piled up high on top of detective's

desks, usually only to be filed away and forgotten about when the next one came in. But some of

that changed in 1998 when 41-year-old Paula Vance was killed. Unlike many of the women who'd come

before her, Paula's brutal assault and death

by strangulation were all caught on security camera. Unfortunately, her assailant remained a blurry,

shadowy figure in the footage. Detective Cliff Shepard was put on the case, a case that would make

a lasting impression on him. But with only

a little amount of DNA evidence and unclear images to go on, he had very little to work with.

In 2001, when he transferred to the LAPD's new cold case unit, he carried with him the images

of Paulus' final moments moments and his heart and mind,

right up to the laps within the department. It took a while for the case to gain some traction,

but DNA evidence collected from Paulus Seen came back with a match for two other incidents.

Mildred Beasley had been a 45-year-old homemaker on her way home to see some friends in 1996

when she was assaulted and strangled.

Her body had been left behind in some bushes on the side of a freeway.

The other match, however, came back from a far more recent case.

In 2002, 47-year-old Maria Martinez, who sold cigarettes outside a homeless

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