Do you know who murdered Gawaina Luster? On the evening of June 12, 1976, in the 1800 block of Vernon Street NW in Washington, D.C., Georgetown University professor Dr. Gawaina J. Luster was found the victim of a homicide by strangulation. The discovery was reported at approximately 6:30 p.m., and the case was taken up by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch. Case identifiers recorded by authorities include Ref. HO-76-1006 and CCN 76-270-934, details that appear on official notices seeking public assistance.
In the years since, the investigation has remained open.
Police circulars and later summaries continue to request information from anyone who might shed light on who attacked the professor in that residential corridor just north of Dupont Circle, and reward posters have reiterated the strangulation finding and the precise place and time. Public compilations of unsolved cases echo those essentials and list the killing among the city’s unresolved homicides. No public records indicate an arrest, and authorities have not named a suspect, leaving the crime formally unsolved.
