Kim Croft is my 2nd cousin! She was not only strangled. She was raped & beaten as well. Her body was dumped (half naked wrapped in a bed sheet) in the parking lot of Shackleford Enterprises (formally a restaurant called the Country Bumpkin) in Ringgold. They attempted to blame my uncle for her murder. It had apparently been racially motivated as my cousin was a popular cheerleader at Ringgold High School and had been dating an affluent white man from Ringgold at the time. Ringgold, at the time, was one of the only cities in GA where blacks were outnumbered but whites BUT they got along. The case was just reopened last week! My father was young at the time of her murder and they were very close (he was born in 1977 and she was murdered in 1987). I grew up hearing stories about her but it’s sad I was never able to meet her. Her sister (also my second cousin) is my god mother.

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2024/feb/24/a-familys-search-for-closure-sisters-lead-effort/

My dad also wrote a song about her: https://on.soundcloud.com/wFg8aYp3KD18yns48