Briggs, a child rapist who was on parole, offered to shovel Mary’s driveway, which she accepted. While shoveling her driveway, he entered her home and was in the process of stealing her TV, when she walked in on him. He attacked her, choking her and stabbing her multiple times, before covering her body with a blanket. He was tied to the crime by fingerprints he left on her toilet seat, which he left up.