Alberta Jones

Alberta Odell Jones, 34, Louisville and Jefferson County's first Black woman prosecutor and the attorney who negotiated a young Cassius Clay's (Muhammad Ali's) first professional boxing contract, was found in the Ohio River near Fontaine Ferry Park on August 5, 1965. Her rental car was found nearby with blood inside, and an autopsy found she had been beaten with a brick before drowning. Witnesses reported seeing men force a woman into a car earlier that night, and separately reported a car stopped on the Sherman Minton Bridge around 4:35 a.m. The case was added to the DOJ's federal cold-case list in 2018; the DOJ formally closed the file in August 2023, citing the loss of evidence and the deaths of witnesses and original investigators, without identifying a suspect.

Louisville, KY · Jefferson County

• 1965: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• Victim identity, professional background, and the August 5, 1965 date, per the DOJ's public case file.
• Her death was ruled a homicide caused by drowning after being beaten; the DOJ closed its cold-case review in August 2023.

• No one has been convicted in connection with her death.
• A 2008 fingerprint match reported by press was, per the local prosecutor at the time, found insufficient to reopen the case.

• U.S. Department of Justice — Civil Rights Division case page
• The Washington Post — case retrospective
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs