In the spring of 1977, the vibrant and often transient city of Las Vegas, Nevada, became the unwilling backdrop for a brutal crime that would go unsolved for years. On May 14, 26-year-old Kathlyn J. Blum, a female commercial driver, was found deceased in a residential neighborhood. An investigation revealed she had been strangled, her life violently taken from her before her body was unceremoniously left in a stranger's backyard. For a time, her case grew cold, with detectives having no immediate leads to follow. The trail of her killer seemingly vanished into the desert air, leaving behind only questions and the deep sorrow of those who knew her. The initial investigation stalled, and it would take the confession of a man already in custody for other heinous crimes to finally bring clarity to the senseless death of Kathlyn.
The break in the case came years later and from another state. In December 1980, detectives in Las Vegas learned of confessions made by Carroll Edward Cole, who had been arrested in Dallas, Texas, for a series of murders there. During his interrogations, Cole admitted to a string of killings that spanned several states and years, including the murder of Kathlyn J. Blum. He recounted how he had met Kathlyn at a bar off the Las Vegas Strip, charmed her, and left with her in a taxi. Cole had the driver drop them off in front of an apartment building where he falsely claimed to live. Instead of going inside, he led her to an alley behind the building where he assaulted and strangled her. His confession provided the missing pieces to a puzzle that had long haunted Las Vegas investigators.
With Cole's admission, the legal process to hold him accountable for Kathlyn's death began. Although he was already convicted of three murders in Texas and sentenced to life in prison, he was extradited to Nevada in February 1984 to face charges for the deaths of Kathlyn Blum and another woman, Marie Cushman, who he had killed in Las Vegas in 1979. He was subsequently tried and convicted for both murders. While he received a death sentence for the murder of Marie Cushman, he was not sentenced to death for Kathlyn's murder because the death penalty was not in effect in Nevada in May of 1977. Carroll Edward Cole, a man who confessed to numerous murders, was ultimately held responsible for the death of Kathlyn J. Blum, bringing a form of closure to a case that had remained a mystery for years. Her murder became a stark example of the hidden dangers that could lurk behind a charming facade in the bustling city of Las Vegas.
