Melinda Yvonne Hayes was 21 when she was killed on July 17, 1988, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was one of four people killed and five others wounded when Michael Charles Hayes fired a .22-caliber rifle outside a moped shop owned by his stepfather. Reports say he shot nine people and later told authorities he believed he was killing demons.

The other fatalities named were Crystal Cantrell, 16; Thomas Walter Nicholson, 24; and Ronald Lee Hull, 32. Michael Hayes was apprehended and charged with four counts of murder. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to Dorothea Dix State Mental Hospital in Raleigh. The case drew criticism of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Department after witnesses said deputies delayed intervening despite multiple calls.

The 1989 trial attracted heavy media attention, the insanity verdict prompted public outrage, and Hayes has made yearly petitions for release that provoked protests from victims’ families. Does anyone have memories of that day or information about the victims and families affected by this case?