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The Knoxville Writers Guild will open the new year with a compelling program exploring one of the region’s most haunting true crime stories. On Thursday, Jan. 8, at 7 p.m., author and historian Nancy Locklin-Sofer will present The Night Marauder Project at Addison’s Bookstore in Knoxville. This event is free and open to the public as part of KWG’s commitment to community access through our monthly programming.

Locklin-Sofer’s presentation illuminates a turbulent period between 1919 and 1926, when a series of violent attacks against women unsettled Knoxville, Alcoa and Maryville. Although several men were accused, the case was never solved. The story intersects with shifting racial tensions, the Knoxville Race Riot of 1919, and complex questions about justice, power and memory.

Originally developed with Maryville College students in her “History of Murder” course, The Night Marauder Project draws from archival records, genealogical research, and the voices of descendants whose families were touched by these events. Locklin-Sofer will share emerging insights from this work and discuss how collaborative research can deepen our connections to place and history.

A member of the Maryville College faculty since 2000, Locklin-Sofer is a published historian whose expertise spans early modern France, violence and the evolution of criminal justice. Her forthcoming book, “The Night Marauder: East Tennessee’s Serial Killer, 1919–1926,” will be released by University of Tennessee Press in 2026.