Arthur James Robertson was a 59-year-old deputy with the Ellis County Sheriff’s Department who was killed on February 15, 1971, in what became known as the Trinity River Massacre. Robertson and Deputies William Reese and Samuel Infante were abducted by two men while conducting a burglary investigation. The three deputies were taken to the Trinity River and shot execution-style; a fourth deputy escaped and summoned help.

Suspected in the abduction and killings were Rene Adolpho Guzman and Leonardo Ramos Lopez, both linked to the burglary in Ellis County. Guzman and Lopez were captured four days later in East Dallas, tried, and found guilty of murder. Their sentences and subsequent legal developments included death sentences later affected by changes in capital punishment law and retrials that resulted in life terms. Lopez was paroled in 1991 and later incarcerated again in a separate matter. The deaths prompted changes in the parole process and underscored the risks officers face on duty.

Did anyone in the community have direct knowledge of the deputies’ movements that day or of the burglary suspects prior to February 15, 1971?