Before dawn on March 10, 1985, Nancy Abrams, 33, working the overnight shift at the King Kwik gas station on Breiel Boulevard in Middletown, was shot twice in the back of the head. John Francis, 31, a customer, was shot once and left in a back room. No one has been convicted.
Police pursued robbery, personal-motive and serial-killer theories, exhumed Abrams, hypnotized witnesses, and made a sketch of a motorcycle rider. A 2004 detective developed a suspect and took the case to a grand jury, which returned no indictment. The prosecutor later called the evidence very circumstantial.
Editorial assessment of public sources, not a finding of fact. Nobody named here has been charged unless this page says so.
Details come from a Nov 2018 Dayton Daily News story and a March 2021 FOX19 report. The store is spelled King Kwik in one and King Kwick in others.
A newspaper delivery woman sees Nancy Abrams working at the King Kwik on Breiel Boulevard during her morning drop-off.
The delivery woman sees a man she describes as a motorcycle rider outside the store. This leads to a composite sketch.
Abrams is found dead near a storage room behind the counter, shot twice in the back of the head. John Francis, 31, of Fernwood Street, is found dead in a back room near the freezer, shot once in the back of the head. His brown AMC Concord is parked near the front. Police wake Abrams's husband at about 7:30 a.m.
Police pursue robbery, personal-motive and serial-killer theories. They exhume Abrams and try hypnosis with people who were near the store.
A third detective develops a suspect and presents the case to a grand jury under then-prosecutor Robin Piper. No indictment is returned. Fingerprints on glass soda bottles are tested the same year with no result.
A Middletown detective reviews the file and a victims advocate appeals for tips.
FOX19 reports Middletown police have shared no new updates.
A mother working nights, and a customer who stopped at the wrong time.
A mother of the household and the oldest of five siblings. She worked overnight shifts. Her sister called her a mentor.
Early reports described him as a press operator who owned a second-hand jewelry store. He lived on Fernwood Street.
We found no freely licensed photo, so a silhouette is shown. Family members or others who want a photo added, changed, or removed can use the contact form at the bottom of this page.
What exists, and what each piece may or may not mean.
| Item | What is known | Disputed or unknown |
|---|---|---|
| The shootings | Abrams shot twice and Francis once, both in the back of the head. | Caliber and weapon: not public in what we read. |
| Money orders | Seven were taken and never surfaced. | Serial numbers were presumably recorded; results are not public. |
| Composite sketch | Based on the delivery woman's sighting of a motorcycle rider. | A retired detective said most people questioned resembled the sketch. |
| Fingerprints | Prints from glass soda bottles were tested in 2004. | No results reported. |
| Surveillance | None existed in 1985. | No cell phone or social media evidence either. |
A 2018 newspaper review and a 2021 TV report are the public record.
| Document | Holder | What it shows | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double homicide haunts family, police 33 years later (2018) | Dayton Daily News via WPXI | Timeline and investigation. | Online, free |
| Middletown Police case file; 2004 grand jury | Middletown Police; Butler County Prosecutor | The investigation. | Withheld or sealed |
Access labels: Online, free = we could open it. Fan-hosted copy = a private researcher posted scans; originals are held by the named agency, and we cannot vouch for completeness. Quoted in news = reporters read it; we did not see the document itself. Request needed = held by an agency or court. Withheld = the holder has not released it. We cannot reach non-public records, and we do not try to.
Where people talk about this case online, and how to read it.
| Platform | Live search | What you tend to find |
|---|---|---|
| Google: Reddit | site:reddit.com search | Public Reddit threads that Google has indexed, including old discussions. |
| Google: X and Twitter | X and Twitter posts | Public posts and profiles that appear in search results. |
| Google: Facebook | Public Facebook pages and posts | Only public pages and groups that Google can see. Private groups never appear. |
| Google: Instagram and TikTok | Instagram and TikTok | Public posts, memorials, and videos. |
| Google: forums | Forums and message boards | Long-running true-crime forums. |
| Google News | Latest news | Newest reporting, which is usually more reliable than posts. |
| Search Reddit | Long discussion threads and theories, often by amateur researchers. No sign-in needed to read. | |
| X (Twitter) | Search X | Short posts, news links, and anniversary notes. May require sign-in. |
| Search Facebook | Public groups and family or community pages. Requires sign-in. | |
| Search #nancyabrams | Memorial and true-crime posts. Requires sign-in. | |
| YouTube | Search YouTube | Documentaries, news clips, and interviews. Quality varies widely. |
Be careful with online theories. Naming a private person as a suspect can harm an innocent family, and many "identifications" on forums have been wrong. Our own tools could not read these platforms: Reddit blocks automated access, and the others require an account. The Google searches above work from your browser. To get new public mentions by email, make a free Google Alert for the case name in quotation marks.
What local and national reports say, and when we last checked for a solution.
| Date | Outlet | What it reported | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 12, 2018 | |||
| Dayton Daily News via WPXI | |||
| Detailed review: 2004 grand jury, sketch, money orders. | |||
| Read | |||
| March 2021 | |||
| FOX19 / WXIX | |||
| Police share no new updates. | |||
| Read |
Status is re-checked on a regular schedule. If you know of a development we missed, use the clue form near the top of this page or the contact form, and include a link.
A suspect was developed in 2004 and not indicted.
Why named: A third detective developed a suspect and took the case to a grand jury.
Against: No indictment. A former prosecutor called the evidence very circumstantial.
Why named: A delivery woman saw him outside the store around 4:30 a.m. and a sketch was made.
Against: A retired detective said many men in the 1980s looked like the sketch. Nothing shows he was involved.
Why named: Investigators focused on this person early in the case.
Against: An attorney says he is convinced they had nothing to do with it. No charge.
Where a card shows a silhouette, we found no photo. Anyone who wants a photo added, changed, or removed can use the contact form at the bottom of this page.
The case has been reviewed at least twice by new detectives.
We put the chance that the killer came to rob the store at roughly 45%, because money orders were taken. We put the chance that the crime was personal toward Abrams at roughly 35%. We put the chance of a solution within five years at roughly 8%.
Editorial judgment, not statistics.
"—" means no public information, not a clean result.
| Person or idea | Knew the victims | Physical link | Legal outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| The 2004 suspect (unnamed) | ? unknown | — none published | ? grand jury: no indictment |
| Motorcycle rider | — | — sketch only | — unidentified |
| Person close to Abrams (unnamed) | ✓ close to victim | — none published | ? attorney denies role |
✗ excluded or contradicted · ✓ supports · ? disputed · — nothing public. No cell is an official finding.
Editorial reading of public records. A working theory, not a finding, and it names no individual.
Judgment, not statistics.
Questions raised by gaps in the public record.
Whether any were cashed and where.
Caliber and any link to other Butler County crimes.
Why a grand jury declined, and what has changed.
Whether the motorcycle rider has ever been identified or ruled out.
Whether bottles, clothing and fingerprints are still held.
Whether similar shootings occurred elsewhere in 1985.
"Not public" means we could not find a report.
| Item | Tested | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| Soda bottle prints | Tested in 2004. | No results reported. |
| Exhumation findings | Abrams exhumed. | Results: not public. |
| Grand jury record | Presented in 2004. | Secret by law. |
| Police file | Held by Middletown Police. | Public index: not available. |
| Tool | What it could do | Status here |
|---|---|---|
| DNA from retained evidence | Identify a donor or exclude people. | Unknown; not reported |
| Forensic genetic genealogy | Identify an unknown donor from relatives. | Needs usable DNA; none reported |
| Ballistics database (NIBIN) | Link recovered casings or bullets to other crimes. | Not reported |
Local cases that moved after decades.
Investigators say a private genealogy investigation helped them identify Thomas Dunaway, who died in 1990, as the man who killed the 16-year-old. He cannot be indicted, so prosecutors sent a letter saying he would have been charged. The lesson: genealogy can name a killer after decades, even when no trial is possible.
In 2024, local investigators were being trained in the technique, which has already helped solve Cincinnati-area cases, according to FOX19. The lesson: the tool is now local, so cases with usable DNA have a real path forward.
Old crime-scene DNA matched relatives in a public database and led to a 2018 arrest. The lesson: a usable sample can still work after decades.
Case details come from public news coverage and the Boone County Sheriff's cold-case list. Confirm in court records.
| Claim | Source and date | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| Robbery gone wrong | Early reports | Seven money orders were taken, but their trail is not public. |
| The sketch is the killer | Delivery woman's sighting | A retired detective said many men looked like it. |
| Store name | Various | Sources spell it King Kwik and King Kwick. |
The killings happened at a gas station on Breiel Boulevard in Middletown, Butler County, Ohio.
Open in maps: Breiel Boulevard, Middletown. We show no photograph of the scene.
| Source | Type | Rating | Use with care because |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton Daily News via WPXI, Nov 12, 2018 | Regional news | B+ | The most detailed account. Quotes retired detectives and the family. |
| FOX19 / WXIX, March 2021 | Local news | B | Brief. Says police have no update. |
| Journal-News "8 unsolved cases" list | Regional news | B | Seen in search results; not opened. |
Lead agency. No tip line was listed in the 2018 or 2021 reports.
The 2004 grand jury.
Autopsy and exhumation records.
Under the Ohio Public Records Act, I request copies of non-exempt records relating to the March 10, 1985 homicides of Nancy Abrams and John Francis at the King Kwik store on Breiel Boulevard, Middletown, including incident reports, laboratory reports, and any evidence inventory. Please send electronic copies. If any part is withheld, please identify the exemption relied on and release all reasonably segregable material.
Agencies often withhold records of open investigations, so expect partial answers.
Nancy and John died on the same morning. Nancy's sister has kept asking for answers.
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Every fact on this page comes from one of these. Where they disagree, we say so above.
The 2004 suspect and the early-focus person are unnamed in the reports and we do not name them. The attorney's statement is as reported in 2018. We found no coverage after March 2021 and no tip line.