On a December day in 1977, Maryland State Trooper Gregg Alexander Presbury, 27, was on duty in Glen Burnie when he stopped a vehicle on Route 3 near the Route 100 intersection and radioed for backup. During the stop the driver, paroled felon David A. Pfeiffer, opened fire and fatally wounded the trooper. Presbury managed to return fire and wounded his attacker. A passing motorist used the trooper’s radio to report the shooting and describe the suspect, leading to Pfeiffer’s prompt apprehension.

Trooper Presbury died of his wounds five days later on December 17, 1977. He had served 17 months with the Maryland State Police and left a wife and child. Pfeiffer was charged with murder; an initial first-degree murder conviction on October 19, 1978, was overturned, and a second trial concluded June 25, 1980, with another first-degree murder conviction and a sentence of life plus 15 years.