Her father, William Sylvester White, was one of the first African American commissioned as a Navy officer; he later became a juvenile court judge.

[2] Craven then began reporting for the San Francisco local news show Newsroom on the KQED public television station.

[6] During her time on Newsroom, one of the subjects Craven reported on was a serial rapist in Berkeley, known as "Stinky" due to his foul body odor.

[4][6][7] On January 13, 1978, the rapist attacked Craven in the home she shared with her six-year-old son, subduing, blindfolding, and assaulting her for over two hours.

Realizing that the rapist must be "Stinky", she gathered as much information about him as she could by feeling his body and clothes with her hands and feet, in order to provide useful evidence to the police.

One of the talk shows she appeared on was Good Morning America, which aired a week-long series on rape.