On June 22, 2000, Deputy Sheriff Jason Lee Acton, 36, was killed during a violent, premeditated attempted jailbreak at the Randolph County Jail in Huntsville, Missouri. Acton, who had been with the department for two months, was on duty in the early morning alongside Jail Supervisor Leon Egley when two visitors gained entry by ringing the night buzzer and claiming to deliver items to an inmate. Once inside the lobby the visitors—identified as Michael A. Tisius and Tracie Bulington—opened fire in the dispatch area. Acton was shot in the forehead and died instantly; Supervisor Egley was critically wounded and later died of his injuries.

The attackers had intended to free inmate Roy Vance, who had arranged the plot from inside the jail. Tisius and Bulington searched for cell keys but, unable to unlock the doors, fled; both were arrested later that day in Kansas after their vehicle broke down. All three conspirators were charged in the double homicide.

Did anyone who worked at or visited the Randolph County Jail around June 2000 notice anything unusual in the days before the attack?