On a Saturday evening in Wichita, Kansas, the lights of the La' Bride d'Elegance bridal shop should have been off. It was April 11, 1992, and Patricia Smith, a 23-year-old Caucasian female, was working late alongside the shop's owner, 32-year-old Patricia Magers. A bridal consultant who had been married for less than a year, Smith and her boss had kept the shop open past its usual closing time to accommodate a male customer who had arranged to pick up a cummerbund.
The simple courtesy would place them in the path of a predator.
As the two women waited, an unknown man entered the shop on East Kellogg. He was not the customer they were expecting. The man shot both Patricia Smith and Patricia Magers execution-style. Sometime after the shooting, the actual customer arrived to retrieve his item. He encountered the armed man still inside the shop and managed to escape unharmed. Frightened, the witness waited for about an hour before calling the police. When authorities arrived, they found Patricia Magers deceased at the scene. Patricia Smith was discovered mortally wounded and was rushed to a nearby hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries shortly after arrival.
The investigation into the brutal double murder at the bridal shop quickly revealed it was not an isolated incident. Authorities linked the crime to a string of similar slayings that occurred along the Interstate 70 corridor in the spring of 1992. The unknown assailant was dubbed the "I-70 Killer," a serial murderer believed to be responsible for at least six deaths across Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana. His targets were typically employees of small businesses located near the highway. The killer left little evidence behind, and robbery did not appear to be the primary motive, though small amounts of cash were sometimes taken.
Decades have passed since Patricia Smith and Patricia Magers lost their lives, but their killer has never been identified, and no arrests have ever been made. The case remains an active cold case. Investigators have a description of the suspect, provided by the witness at the bridal shop and others: a white male in his late 20s or early 30s at the time, with a slender build and light brown or reddish hair. A composite sketch was circulated, but the man responsible for the violent spree that cut short the lives of six innocent people has continued to elude justice, leaving the families of his victims with unanswered questions and enduring grief.
