On the morning of May 31, 1990, the wife of 49-year-old Michael Lloyd Rector, a Special Agent with the Tennessee Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division and U.S. Navy veteran, found his body in the driveway of the family home. An autopsy showed Rector had been shot five times with a 9 mm pistol. Neighbors reported hearing a series of loud noises the previous night between 12:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m., at least one person believing them to be gunshots.

Investigators focused on Rector’s brother-in-law, Roy Lee Clark. FBI evidence indicated Rector had been acting as a confidential informant in a sting into Clark’s alleged automobile thefts and chop shop operation, and that Clark may have killed Rector to silence him. A cigar butt found at the scene later was linked to Clark by teeth marks. Clark was arrested within hours and the prosecution relied on inmate informant testimony and information gathered by undercover agents to build its case.

Clark was convicted of killing Rector to obstruct justice and received a life sentence; his appeal was denied and the district court’s judgment affirmed. Does anyone have memories of the neighborhood that night or information about the people involved?