Homicide Report > Sheila Burton, 30
Sheila Burton, 30
Died Nov. 18, 1984
Sheila Burton, a 30-year-old black woman, was strangled to death in the 9800 block of Grandee Avenue in Watts on Nov. 18, 1984.
Burton, who also went by the last name Burris, was found dead in a vacant lot. Although authorities charged Louis Craine in this case, he was acquitted of Burton's murder in 1989. Police continue to believe her homicide was connected to Craine, whose parents lived within blocks of where her body was found. Authorities consider her case to be closed.
In the same trial, Craine was convicted of four killings and sentenced to death.
His defense attorneys had portrayed Craine, 32, an unemployed construction worker, as an illiterate man with a fourth-grade education and an IQ of 69, unable to kill anyone.
Within months of his conviction, he died in a prison hospital of an undisclosed ailment.
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