Steven Ross Pinkelton, a 30-year-old Metro Nashville Police Department officer and U.S. Army veteran, was killed on July 26, 1978. Off duty but in uniform, he was waiting in line at a Nashville restaurant when an armed robber entered. The assailant grabbed Officer Pinkelton from behind and fired a single shot into the back of his head, killing him instantly. Pinkelton had served six years on the force and was remembered by colleagues as kind and jovial.

Investigators worked the case for years. A 29-year-old man was arrested on February 18, 1983; he was already serving a 13-year sentence in the state penitentiary for two nearby restaurant robberies. That suspect was charged, later convicted of Officer Pinkelton’s murder, and received a life sentence.