Sharyn Kamrath worked as a cab driver for Coast Cab. On the night of July 29, 1986, she picked up a male fare at Sixth Avenue and Broadway in downtown San Diego. The man got into the back seat and asked to go to 8101 Gilman Drive in La Jolla.

When Kamrath eventually pulled off the I-5 Freeway onto Gilman Drive, (an undeveloped area in 1986) the man produced a handgun and ordered Kamrath to pull to the curb. The man robbed Kamrath of ten dollars in cash, ordered her to move to the passenger seat, shot her in the neck at point-blank range and pushed her out through the passenger door onto the shoulder of the road. The man then drove away in Kamrath's cab. Kamrath's cab was found two hours after the shooting, abandoned on Fourth Avenue near Upas Street in Hillcrest.

Several passers-by alerted police when they saw Kamrath lying on the side of the road. Kamrath was rushed to a nearby hospital, and although she was paralyzed from the neck down, she was conscious and alert and gave officers a detailed account of what had occurred and a description of the suspect.

Kamrath described the suspect as follows: a black male, late 20s to early 30s, with a medium build, clean shaven and with short black hair. The suspect possibly had a Cuban, Dominican or Puerto Rican accent. (See sketch pictured below)

Unfortunately, Kamrath was never able to recover from her injury and died in the hospital on August 26, 1986.

This case may be related to the murder of cab driver Linda Sue Younger, which occurred one month earlier in Old Town.