On the morning of September 14, 1986, Bruce Glenn Keeter, an assistant manager at a Hardee’s in Columbus, Georgia, was found dead inside the restaurant. He had been seen alive at 1:20 a.m. while preparing the registers for the next business day; his mother reported him missing when he did not come home. His body was discovered shortly after 6:00 a.m., almost $400 was missing from the safe, and his car was later found abandoned by an interstate with the passenger-side window broken out.

The investigation led police to Randy Hubbard, who told officers in early December 1986 that his friend Ronald Leroy Kinsman had confessed to killing a man during a Hardee’s robbery with two others. A recorded call arranged by police captured Kinsman making incriminating statements; Kinsman and two others, identified as Patterson and Morgan, were arrested December 5, 1986. Kinsman later admitted involvement, saying Patterson did the killing and that he had driven and abandoned Keeter’s car and broken the window to retrieve the keys.

Kinsman was indicted December 30, 1986; his trial was held April 13–18, 1987, and a Muscogee County jury convicted him of malice murder, armed robbery, and theft by taking. Anyone with information about Bruce Keeter, the robbery, or Patterson or Morgan’s roles is asked to come forward.