On the evening of March 2, 1988, 39-year-old Joseph V. Pala was closing the Wickes Lumber Company in Douglas, Georgia, when he was killed during a robbery. The following day police arrested Samuel David Crowe, a former manager-in-training at the same store who knew Pala and the business’s closing routines.

According to Crowe’s later statements, Pala let him into the store; Crowe waited until Pala was distracted with paperwork, then assaulted him. Pala was shot, bludgeoned with a crowbar, and struck with a can of paint. A cash bag was taken. Crowe pleaded guilty to malice murder and armed robbery and was sentenced to death in November 1989; that sentence was commuted to life without parole on May 22, 2008.

Are there details about Pala’s life or the store that anyone in the Douglas area can add to help document the case?