Alton Wilson was a 66-year-old fisherman from Franklinton, Louisiana who was killed on June 27, 1977. He and a companion, Ray Jones, were fishing when they encountered two men who had escaped from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester four days earlier. Wilson and Jones were later found shot in a submerged pickup truck in a flooded gravel pit near Franklinton.

Investigators linked these killings to a broader crime spree by escaped convicts Paul Ruiz and Earl Van Denton, whose rampage also included the slayings of Magazine Town Marshal Marvin Richie and Park Ranger Opal James in Arkansas. Ruiz and Van Denton were captured in Portland, Oregon, on July 8, 1977, and charged in the multiple murders.

Does anyone have memories of Franklinton in 1977 or information about Wilson and Jones that could add context to their last day?