Barbara Bowman, a 31-year-old woman, was tragically murdered on August 14, 1966. She had spent the evening at a bar in Cincinnati before calling a taxi to take her home. Witnesses described the driver as a young Black man. Less than two blocks from her apartment, Bowman was attacked by the cab driver, who stabbed her in the throat seven times. She succumbed to her injuries shortly after police arrived at the scene.
During the investigation, authorities determined that the perpetrator had
been driving a stolen taxi belonging to the Yellow Cab Company. The vehicle had been reported missing just hours before Bowman's murder. Her case initially stood out from the other killings attributed to the Cincinnati Strangler due to her age and the use of a knife rather than strangulation. However, further inquiries linked her death to the same crime spree.
The Cincinnati Strangler was responsible for the murder of seven women between December 1965 and December 9, 1966. Most of the victims were older women who had been raped and strangled. Bowman was the youngest among them. The city was gripped with fear as the killings continued, prompting residents to install additional locks and deadbolts in their homes.
The investigation led to the arrest of Posteal Laskey Jr., a former cab driver, in December 1966. Laskey was charged with Bowman's murder after witnesses placed him in the vicinity of the crime and identified the stolen cab he had been driving. Although he was never formally charged with the other murders, authorities believed he was responsible for all seven deaths. His arrest sparked racial tensions in Cincinnati, as Laskey was African American and all the victims were white. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited the city to urge calm amid protests.
Laskey was sentenced to death, but his execution was later commuted to life in prison when Ohio abolished the death penalty. Despite the controversy surrounding his conviction, police maintained that the murders ceased after his arrest, reinforcing their belief that he was the Cincinnati Strangler.
