Robert Aaron Mobley was a 50-year-old South Carolina Highway Patrol sergeant when a routine traffic stop on July 19, 1979, ended in his death. Patroling Highway 51 a few miles south of Florence near what is now Pamplico Highway, he stopped a motorcycle for a rear light that wasn’t working. During the contact a struggle occurred on the shoulder, the rider reportedly wrested away Mobley’s service revolver and then shot the trooper multiple times. Mobley collapsed at the scene and later died; authorities said he was shot six times with his own weapon.

By the following day, a man identified as Elijah Belin Jr. was arrested and charged with Mobley’s murder. Mobley was buried with full military honors at Florence National Cemetery and later honored by induction into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame. A portion of SC-51 in Florence County has been designated the Sgt. Robert A. Mobley Highway.

If anyone remembers that July 19 traffic stop or saw activity on that stretch of Highway 51 that evening, please share what is known.