On October 7, 2001, American nurse Joann Lee Tiesler, 30, was raped and stabbed to death in her home in Cherry Log, Georgia, by William LeCroy Jr., her neighbor and a former U.S. soldier.

LeCroy, who was also a sex offender, had broken into Tiesler's house while she was out shopping, waited for her to come home, then bound, sexually assaulted, and stabbed her to death.

[4] Investigators quickly established their prime suspect, William Emmett LeCroy Jr., a local sex offender who lived a few houses away from Tiesler.

[5] After the army he became known as a recidivist, having perpetrated numerous crimes in and out of jail which eventually landed him federal custody for burglary and child molestation.

While in custody in Cook County Jail in Grand Marais he confessed to killing Tiesler, describing what he did in detail; LeCroy told authorities he struck Tiesler with a shotgun, bound, raped, slashed her throat open and stabbed her numerous times in the back, eventually leading to her death, before stealing her car.

LeCroy's attorneys admitted early on that he did kill Tiesler, but argued the murder was not preplanned nor fit the profile of a federal crime.

[9] They maintained that, given LeCroy's background of robberies, that he was simply burglarizing Tiesler's home when she unexpectedly walked in, and that the sexual assault, murder, and carjacking were not done with premeditation.

[3] Prosecutors supported their claim that LeCroy had deliberately planned out the rape and murder, given evidence of him spying on her through a neighboring house, and in the days leading up to killing her he had bought cable wires which he used to tie her up.

[13] In 2002, Tiesler's mother Janie Wells constructed an outdoor classroom and memorial garden in Bowie Nature Park in honor of Joann.