On February 25, 1981, 24-year-old Dallas Police Department officer John T. McCarthy was shot and killed while responding with a partner to a suspicious vehicle parked near White Rock Lake. Officers encountered two partially clothed people in the car and instructed them to leave. As Officer McCarthy returned to his vehicle, one of the individuals stepped out and shot him in the head, then fled into the lake but later emerged and was arrested.

The suspect, Stephen Ray Nethery, was convicted of Officer McCarthy’s murder. Nethery was also found guilty of raping a 22-year-old woman in his car at the time officers arrived. Officer McCarthy had served with the department for two years and was survived by his wife.