Robert Nicholas ’Nick’ Creson was 18 and a senior at Lincoln County High School in Fayetteville, Tennessee when he was shot dead in the school parking lot on May 19, 1998. The shooting followed a dispute over Tonya Bishop, who had been in a relationship with Creson before she began dating classmate Jacob Lee Davis. Reports say Creson and Bishop remained close after the breakup and that Davis became distraught after learning they had been together.

According to eyewitness accounts, the confrontation at school that day led Davis to go home, retrieve a .22-caliber rifle, then return and wait in the parking lot. Shortly after 2 p.m. he allegedly got out of his car, fired from 15 to 20 feet, and struck Creson three times in the chest and abdomen. Creson fell after the first shot, pleaded for Davis to stop, and was shot twice more; he died at a hospital a short time later. Davis reportedly left a letter in his car asking for forgiveness.

Davis, also 18, was arrested at the scene and later convicted of first-degree murder in July 1999; he received life with parole eligibility after 51 years, plus concurrent sentences for related charges. Did anyone who knew Nick, Tonya, or Jacob notice tensions between them in the months before May 1998?