Detective Herbert Ray Sullivan, a 30-year-old white male with six years on the St. Petersburg Police Department, was killed on August 18, 1980, in Saint Petersburg, Florida, during an undercover narcotics operation. He was sitting in an unmarked gray Chevy pick-up in the parking lot of the Save Inn at 2260 54 Avenue North with a large sum of cash, awaiting completion of a purchase of a kilogram of cocaine and about 1,000 pills. His partner, Detective Harry Herbst, had gone inside the hotel to negotiate the deal.

While Sullivan waited, a second man, later identified as Sammie Lee Mathis, approached and opened fire, striking Sullivan multiple times in the chest. Sullivan was taken to Hubert Rutland Hospital and pronounced dead at 3:16 p.m. The following day Mathis was arrested and confessed; he was charged and later convicted.

Sullivan was the twelfth officer killed in the line of duty for the department. He was survived by his parents, his wife June E., and three siblings, and had recently received a commendation for solving a local narcotics problem. Did anyone in Saint Petersburg at the time witness activity around the Save Inn on August 18, 1980, or have information about the transaction that led to his death?