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Martinsville Remembers Victim Of 1968 Racially Motivated Murder

It's been fifty years in the making, but finally this week city leaders and residents from two Indiana communities honored Carol Jenkins-Davis, who was stabbed to death in Martinsville in a racially-motivated crime.

The 21 year old's death went unsolved until police arrested an Indianapolis man for the murder in 2002. He died before the case could go to trial.

Martinsville city leaders dedicated a Maple tree and an engraved stone in Carol Jenkins-Davis' honor.

Her family was there too, including her sister Laura Davis.

"I want everyone to take home exactly what I said, which is, Carol's challenge to them is to love somebody that's different," Davis says.

During the ceremony, Hoosier Harvest Church Pastor Chris Page denounced racism and urged Martinsville residents to do the same.

"From this day forward we declare Martinsville to be no longer a city known for racism, but instead known as a city of refuge, welcome to all," Page says.

Jenkins-Davis was from Rushville. Earlier in the week, city leaders there renamed a park in her honor.

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