At around 11:45 p.m. on Friday, February 22, 1946, Jimmy Hollis, age 25, and his girlfriend, Mary Jeanne Larey, age 19, parked on a secluded road known as a lovers' lane after having seen a movie together. The area was approximately off Robinson Road on an unpaved street, about 100 yards from the last row of city homes. Around ten minutes later, at 11:55 p.m., a man wearing a white cloth maskwhich resembled a pillowcase with eye holes cut outappeared at Hollis's driver-side door, and shone a flashlight in the window. Unsure if it was a prank, Hollis told him he had the wrong person, to which the man responded: "I don't want to kill you, fellow, so do what I say."