Gotham City news reporter Michelle Sanders was reporting on the reopening of Arkham Asylum when she suddenly began coughing uncontrollably. Her cough soon turned to laughter; her skin went pale and her face contorted into a rictus grin as she died on-camera. As she collapsed, the Joker appeared behind her and hijacked the broadcast, revealing himself to the citizens of Gotham for the first time. She thus holds the distinction of being the Joker’s first publicly-known victim.
Although the reporter went unnamed in the actual story, her name was revealed in the book “The Batman Files.”