Patrolman Willie Peeples, a five-year veteran of the South Carolina Highway Patrol, was killed by gunshot wounds during a high-speed chase on Interstate 95 near Walterboro. The pursuit involved a motorcyclist who was forced to stop at the intersection of SC 61 and US 15 when a mechanical problem occurred. Patrolman Peeples exited his vehicle and was shot three times; the shooter fled into nearby woods.

A manhunt with officers and bloodhounds captured a 24-year-old suspect a few hours later. That man was charged with murder, convicted at the initial trial and sentenced to death; the South Carolina Supreme Court later ordered a new trial. At the second trial the defendant claimed he fired in self-defense and was acquitted and released on November 10, 1981.

The same individual was later involved in a violent series of crimes in Walterboro on August 26, 1987: severely beating a 16-year-old boy, abducting a woman, and, while driving intoxicated, causing a head-on crash that critically injured three women, one of whom died a month later. Those actions led to convictions for kidnapping, manslaughter, and deadly assault and a sentence of life without parole.

Does anyone have recollections from the Walterboro area about the original shooting or the later 1987 crimes that could shed more light on these events?