A killing where the victim and offender had no known previous contact.

• A. Murder
• B. Assassination
• C. Felony murder
• D. Stranger homicide

Answer: (D)

When considering how a homicide is categorized, the key is the relationship between the killer and the victim. If there was no prior contact or known relationship, the act is described as a stranger homicide. This term specifically signals that the killer and victim did not know each other before the crime, which sets it apart from domestic or acquaintance killings and helps guide investigative and prosecutorial angles.

Murder is a broad label for the unlawful killing with malice, but it doesn’t address whether the victim and offender were strangers or had a prior relationship, so it’s too general for this scenario. Assassination generally implies killing a prominent person for political or ideological reasons, not the absence of prior contact. Felony murder depends on a death occurring during the commission of a felony, regardless of any relationship between killer and victim, so it doesn’t fit the given context about prior contact.

So the term that best fits a killing where the victim and offender had no known previous contact is stranger homicide.