A college student is attacked while walking home from the University of Arkansas On the quiet, moonlit evening of April 12, 1971, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the life of 27-year-old Pauline Frances Storment, a Caucasian female, was tragically cut short. A sophomore in social welfare at the University of Arkansas, Pauline was a studious and dedicated individual, working two part-time jobs to support her return to education after a six-year break. That night, after spending time at a musical production and the campus library, she began her walk home.
It was a walk she would never complete.
As she made her way along South Duncan Avenue, just blocks from her apartment, a man was seen following her. Moments later, her terrified screams pierced the night. Residents rushed to help, finding Pauline grievously wounded. She had been stabbed seven times in her chest and arm. Before succumbing to her injuries at Washington Regional Hospital about an hour and a half later, she managed to tell a witness that her attacker wore glasses and had fled towards the university campus. Her final words were a heart-wrenching plea: 'Don't hurt me.'
The Fayetteville community was shaken, and a swift investigation began. About 40 minutes after the attack, police found a 17-year-old named Wallace Peter Kunkel in a car four blocks from the crime scene. He had bloodstains on his jacket, shirt, and pants. Kunkel was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. However, the case against him soon faltered. The amount of blood on his clothing was not considered substantial enough, and after passing a polygraph test 'with flying colors,' the charges were dropped just a few days later.
In the years that followed, Pauline Storment's murder grew cold, but not forgotten. Other individuals briefly came into focus. A man named Jack Butler confessed to the crime, claiming he had mistaken Pauline for his wife, but his story was riddled with inconsistencies and ultimately dismissed by investigators. Authorities also looked into Pauline's past, including a security job where she had helped identify thieves, and a former husband of whom she was reportedly fearful. Despite these avenues of investigation, no definitive answers were found. A small, blood-stained butcher's knife was discovered near the scene, but it was never conclusively determined to be the murder weapon. Over five decades later, the brutal killing of Pauline Storment remains an unsolved mystery, a haunting reminder of a promising life violently extinguished.
