In the winter of 1971 Soperton, Georgia, was rocked by a wave of violent crimes that included the fatal shooting of 51-year-old store owner Lacy Thigpen. She was killed at her store on January 12, 1971, a slaying investigators later linked to a broader pattern of robberies and murders targeting shopkeepers in the region.

Authorities came to suspect William J. Pierce Jr. in Thigpen’s death as part of an investigation that connected several early-1971 killings, including those of Vivian Sutton Miles and Mrs. Homer Hutchinson Wilcox. A bread deliveryman’s account and other evidence helped build the case; Pierce was arrested on March 5, 1971, in Emanuel County for a parole violation and later indicted for multiple murders, including Thigpen’s. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison and died in custody at age 89.