One of the issues I haven't really touched on so far is the topic of race. Which, as you can guess, has played a major role in the reporting of this story over the years.

The area that these crimes unfolded - primarily, Washington D.C. - held a predominant black population. Through the 1960's and 1970's, more than 70% of the region's population was African American, who had had to endure an entire lifetime of racial tension and struggles. The prior decade had seen some major pieces federal legislation - such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 - and the racial divide was still fresh in everyone's mind.

Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 - and the subsequent riots, which caused extensive damage to the Washington D.C. region - the area had been left reeling. After all, Washington D.C. would not establish home rule until 1973, meaning that the local residents had no real representation of their own at the time of the Freeway Phantom murders.

All of this created a lot of animosity towards the local police department - the MPDC - who hired almost exclusively white officers.

To residents, the murder of six girls in their community was a travesty. And, over the next several years, it seemed to the community that the police weren't taking it seriously. They dedicated many more man-hours to political scandals and dealing with Vietnam protests - and to the loved ones left without any answers - it seemed like detectives cared very little about six dead black girls.

When investigators announced that the Freeway Phantom killer was most likely a black individual, this animosity towards the local police force began to turn into widespread distrust. This was, truthfully, based off of statistical analysis at the time - which did show that killers tend to target their own racial demographic, more often than not - but had come after months of inactivity and perceived apathy.

In 1971, a town hall was arranged in Congress Heights by a local antipoverty agency. In this meeting of more than 100 people, residents expressed their disdain for the police response to the murders. In attendance was a local resident named Glendora Thomas, who stated:

"The police are committing crimes by not taking care of our children."

This was the rhetoric that seemed to follow around the case in the early years of the investigation: that the police weren't doing enough to catch the killer. We do know that several investigators were working hard on the case, but simply had very little to work with - this was the 1970's, after all, and barring some kind of explosive eyewitness testimony, there was little for detectives to work with. Right?

However, by the time the 1980's had rolled around, the case was still unsolved. Investigators had now followed up several leads at this point - including Robert Askins and the Green Vega's - but had little to show for it.

In 1980, the Washington Post wrote an article about the case, which included statements from two of the victims' family members. The first of which was from Leon Williams, the father of Diane Williams - the sixth and final murder victim of the Freeway Phantom. Speaking to the Post, Williams stated:

"If it was a white girl, the police would have found the person. I don't believe that police followed the leads they had. Why do they think the person was black? Why don't they investigate whites as well?"

This statement seems to imply that the investigators had either not properly expressed their investigation to the loved ones of the victims, or had simply failed to take their feelings into account. This angry sentiment was also shared by the sister of Carol Spinks, Evander Spinks, who stated:

"You better bet that if these had been white girls, the police would have solved the cases. They didn't care about us. All the cases involving white girls still get publicity. But ours have been forgotten."

One of the cases often pointed to as an example of this very behavior is the disappearance of Sheila and Katherine Lyon - two sisters that disappeared from the Washington D.C./Maryland region in 1975. Despite happening just a few years after the Freeway Phantom murders, the case of the Lyon sisters was worked on constantly over the years, and everything regarding the case was well-documented and preserved... a far cry from the haphazard way the Freeway Phantom crime spree was investigated.

In face, the case of the Lyon sisters was reported on frequently in the media, and in 2017 - just a year or so ago - the case was finally resolved after more than 40 years. Despite the bodies of Sheila and Katherine Lyon never being found, a man named Lloyd Welch confessed to their murders, bringing some resolution to the surviving loved ones. A privilege that the family members of the Freeway Phantom victims have been waiting for for close to half-a-century.

To this day, many believe that police did not give the investigation the necessary resources or manpower. Despite more than 25 D.C. police officer being handed over to the investigative effort at one point, this sentiment is shared by at least one high-ranking police officer - who worked for the department at the time of the murders.

Tommy Musgrove joined the MPDC in 1972, and eventually climbed up the ranks enough to head the entire homicide unit. Now-retired, Musgrove was willing to speak to the Washington Post in 2006, in which he decried the way the victims had been treated in the years since:

"Those black girls didn't mean anything to anybody - I'm talking about on the police department. If those girls had been white, they would have put more manpower on it, there's no doubt about that."