Joseph David Kolodski, a 36-year-old park ranger with the National Park Service, was killed on June 21, 1998, at Big Witch Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Cherokee, North Carolina. He was responding to a report of a man with a rifle threatening visitors when, as he stepped out of his patrol car, he was ambushed and shot. Kolodski was flown to a hospital in Tennessee and pronounced dead on arrival.

The suspect was arrested about four hours later by a tribal game warden on the neighboring Cherokee Indian Reservation. Jeremiah Locust Sr. was convicted in federal court of the murder and sentenced to mandatory life without parole; he is serving his sentence in a federal prison in South Carolina. Kolodski had served 13 years with the National Park Service and worked as an officer safety and defensive tactics instructor. He is survived by his wife and three children, and the suspect was held financially responsible for the family’s loss of future income.

If anyone knew Kolodski, was at Big Witch Overlook that day, or has information about the incident, please share what you know.