In the spring of 1987, Valerie Jamison, a 25-year-old Black woman, vanished from the streets of Philadelphia. Her disappearance was a grim sign of a much larger, horrifying story that would unfold in a crime-ridden neighborhood of the city. Jamison was one of several women who fell victim to the serial killer Harrison Graham.
Graham's apartment became a house of horrors, a place where he would lure women with the promise of drugs. Once inside, they would meet a violent end.
It was in April 1987 that Jamison is believed to have entered his apartment and was never seen alive again.
The truth of what happened to Valerie Jamison and six other women came to light in August 1987. The landlord of Graham's building, responding to a foul odor, made a gruesome discovery. Inside the apartment, police found the remains of multiple victims in various states of decomposition. Jamison's body was among those found, though the severe decomposition made immediate identification a challenge. Investigators were able to determine that the women who could be examined had been strangled.
The discovery of the bodies led to a manhunt for Harrison Graham. He was apprehended on August 17, 1987, and in custody, he confessed to the murders of all seven women. Graham explained that he had killed them after taking drugs with them during sexual encounters. His trial took place in 1988, where he was found guilty on seven counts of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse. The prosecution sought the death penalty for the heinous nature of his crimes. Initially sentenced to death, Graham's sentence was later commuted to life in prison.
