Dayton, Ohio · 1965–1975
Blood in
the Streets
Racism, Riots and Murders in the Heartland of America
A true account of urban America’s most violent decade — when a single killing set a heartland city on fire, and a rookie cop’s path crossed a serial killer’s.
№ 01
The Case
Based on actual events, Blood in the Streets describes urban America’s most violent decade — 1965 to 1975 — when policing was low-tech and gritty.
Dayton, Ohio experienced three riots, one of which was sparked by the killing of an unarmed Black man by police. The city suffered more violence when a white serial killer, who hated the desegregation of Dayton Public Schools, randomly shot more than thirty Black men over four summers.
In only a few years, the city of 260,000 recorded over one hundred homicides — including the murders of two police officers and a popular Civil Rights leader. Blood in the Streets follows a rookie cop through the riots and, later, a homicide detective who comes face-to-face with the serial killer at the scene of his final murder.
“The story describes how Blacks and Whites worked together to end violence — in the belief it is never too late to heal racial conflict.”
A City on Fire — by the record
3
Riots in a single decade
100+
Homicides recorded
30+
Black men killed over four summers
260K
City population at the time
№ 03
The Authors
Two who lived it. One story.
Co-Author · Lieutenant (Ret.)
Daniel L. Baker
A 25-year veteran of the Dayton Police Department, Dan commanded the Violent Crime Bureau and the Hostage Negotiation Team. He later served as Director of Nuclear Security at U.S. DOE sites, Executive Director of the Cincinnati Citizen Complaint Authority, and Executive Director of the University of Tennessee Law Enforcement Innovation Center & National Forensic Academy. He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Co-Author · Attorney
Gwen Nalls
Licensed in the State of Ohio, Gwen has worked for several major corporations across the U.S. during her career. A Black woman who grew up on Dayton’s West Side, she attended segregated schools during the period of race riots and the violent crime wave of the 1970s — giving the book its lived, firsthand witness.
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