On August 21, 1974, 49-year-old minister Roy Asbell was lured from the home of his son, Charles, during a burglary in Bleckley County, Georgia. The intruder, Alpha Otis O'Daniel Stephens, who had recently escaped from a Houston County jail, assaulted the crippled Asbell, forced him into Asbell’s vehicle and drove him about three miles to a pasture in neighboring Bleckley County. Stephens shot Asbell twice in the head at close range with a .357 magnum taken from Charles Asbell’s home; an autopsy also found a broken jaw and multiple skull fractures. Stephens was arrested the next day, made pre-trial statements confessing to this murder and other crimes, was indicted in Bleckley County, convicted, and on January 21, 1975, was sentenced to death. Despite appeals, the conviction and sentence were upheld and Stephens was executed by electrocution on December 12, 1984.

Did anyone in Bleckley County know Roy Asbell or have information about the events of August 21, 1974?