On the morning of December 17, 1995, 26-year-old Baldwin County Sheriff’s Deputy William E. Robinson IV stopped a red Ford Probe at the Royal Inn Motel on Irwinton Road during a probe into a recent armed robbery. The vehicle was driven by Robert Wayne Holsey. As Deputy Robinson approached the car, Holsey opened fire and fatally struck the deputy with a gunshot wound to the head.

Authorities located Holsey and the Ford Probe about three hours later. Investigators linked Holsey to the armed robbery and the shooting with evidence that included clothing matching the robber’s description and the victim’s blood on Holsey’s shoes. In February 1997, a jury convicted Holsey of malice murder, felony murder, and armed robbery and sentenced him to death.

Deputy Robinson was a two-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office. Are there details about Robinson’s life or the scene that readers who remember Baldwin County in 1995 can add?