On April 12, 1976, 46-year-old insurance collector Clifford Floyd was lured back to a Fowlstown, Georgia, residence after making a regular collection. Two men—identified as Ivon Ray Stanley and Joseph Thomas—robbed him, forced him into nearby woods, and subjected him to extreme violence. Thomas struck Floyd in the head with a hammer, tied him to a tree, and later fired five shots into his head; both men beat him with a shovel and attempted to bury him alive. The medical finding recorded suffocation from inhaling a mixture of blood and dirt as the cause of death.

Thomas was arrested two days later and gave a detailed, recorded confession; Stanley was also taken into custody. Both were tried and convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery, and murder. Stanley was sentenced to death and executed by electrocution on July 12, 1984; Thomas received three death sentences. Did anyone who knew Floyd or lived in Fowlstown at the time have recollections about the men’s planning or the days leading up to April 12?