At about 11:30 am on November 8, 1979, a black man walked into a newly opened antique store in Gretna, Louisiana. The owner, B.N., a 39-year-old white woman, became suspicious. She attempted to direct him to furniture outside, but he grabbed her from behind and clubbed her in the head with a handgun as she walked to the front door. He then forced her into a bathroom at the rear of the shop and raped her at gunpoint.