On Wednesday April 10, 1973 the body of twenty-two year old nursing student, JoEllen Smith, was found near the Fischer Projects, between Atlantic and Socrates Streets. She had been missing since Sunday April 8, 1973. Police found her she had suffered from four gun shot wounds to the head; it also appeared that she had been sexually assaulted. She had entered the community because she had been instructed to aid an elderly patient living within the Fischer Homes. Two men were charged with the murder of JoEllen, Steven Berry and Timothy Rudolph, both who had violent arrest records prior to this particular case. In light of her murder, her father set up a foundation called the JoEllen Smith Foundation that aided the community, and a hospital was constructed and built in remembrance of her life, called the JoEllen Smith Memorial Hospital. The hospital was demolished in 2016.
