Livingston shot and killed Janet Caldwell, a 38-year-old mother of two, after she struggled during a purse-snatching in the parking lot of a northwest Houston grocery store the night of Aug. 10, 1983. At approximately 8:00 p.m. on the evening of August 10, 1983, Janet Caldwell left her home and drove to the Weingarten's grocery store located at West 43rd Street and Oak Forest Drive in Houston, Texas. She parked her black Chevrolet pickup truck in the parking lot on the west side of the store.
After she finished shopping, Caldwell left the store carrying two bags of groceries and a purse, and walked through the parking lot to her truck. She was shot and killed in the parking lot moments later. Several eyewitnesses testified to events they observed that night.