When a young coastal North Carolina mother is brutally murdered in her own home,

investigators determined that her killer was likely a man who had responded to a classified sale ad she'd placed in a local paper.

Investigators continue to pursue a killer who's managed to evade law enforcement for decades in this episode of Last Seen Alive.

Music enforcement for decades in this episode of Last Seen Alive.

Thanks for listening to Last Seen Alive.

I'm your host, Leah, crime analyst by day and true crime storyteller by night.

And as always, I'm a co-host Scott.

Beverly J. Potter Mintz, who went by Jay, was last seen alive on February 23, 1987. She was 23 years old and lived in Leland, North Carolina, the coastal town just outside of Wilmington. Today, Leland is what one might

call medium-sized and is actually one of the fastest growing towns in the state of North Carolina.

Back in 1987, it was considerably smaller and had

yet to be officially incorporated. No matter the era, Leland had and still has plenty of Southern

charm, with its proximity to numerous beaches and nature preserves, not to mention the assortment

of attractions that come along with living close to popular vacation destinations.

I actually used to live in the general area as a young child, and I look back on those days fondly.

It's a beautiful area, and there's no shortage of ways to enjoy the coastal scenery.

Had an unidentified predator not made Jay the target of their profoundly evil actions, her children might be able to say the same about their

childhoods. But unfortunately, that wasn't the case. They were robbed of their mother and of the

childhoods they deserved. Jay was 23 years old, a young and single mom who worked hard to

provide for her two small children, BJ and Andrew, who were four and two years old, respectively.

Jay was separated from her son's father, who was in the military and stationed in Germany at the time

that all of this happened. To support herself and her boys, Jay worked as a waitress at a

restaurant in the adjacent town of Wilmington, which is a popular vacation destination. And she had a family in the area,

...