05/14/2026
She left home for work and never returned.
1968.
Martinsville, Indiana.
Carol Jenkins was 21 years old.
Born in Rushville, Indiana, Carol Jenkins was a young Black woman trying to build a better life during one of the most racially tense periods in American history.
In 1968, she moved to Martinsville, Indiana, to work at a local factory. At the time, Martinsville had a long reputation for racial hostility and was known as a “sundown town,” a place where Black people were often threatened or unwelcome after dark.
On the night of September 16, 1968, Jenkins was walking home from work when she was attacked.
A man stabbed her repeatedly with a screwdriver.
She collapsed near the street and died from her injuries.
The murder shocked Black communities across Indiana, but the case remained unsolved for decades.
Investigators believed racial hatred played a role almost immediately. Witnesses reported hearing racial slurs during the attack, and civil rights groups pressured authorities to keep investigating.
Still, no one was convicted for years.
Then, more than 30 years later, the case reopened.
In 2002, a local man named John D. Myers was charged with Carol Jenkins’ murder after new evidence and witness testimony emerged. Prosecutors argued that Myers, who had ties to white supremacist beliefs, targeted Jenkins because she was Black.
In 2005, Myers was convicted of murder and sentenced to 65 years in prison.
Carol Jenkins was only 21 years old.
Her death became one of Indiana’s most remembered racial hate crime cases of the Civil Rights era.
And decades later, her story remained a reminder that racial violence was not limited to the Deep South.
Carol Jenkins.
1968.
#1968
