Perry Dewayne Griffin, 37, was killed in the early morning hours of June 26, 2007, in the parking lot of Panhandle Converter and Scrap Company in Dothan, Alabama. He had gone to work before dawn and was preparing to leave on a business trip; carrying large amounts of cash was part of the job and he reportedly had about $35,000 with him. Two armed men confronted him; evidence at the scene suggested they may have planned to restrain him or take him elsewhere but Griffin resisted and was fatally shot during a struggle. The attackers fled on foot with the money, and investigators believed a third person waited nearby in a vehicle.

Investigators later came to view the killing as more than a random robbery and said at least two of the suspects had worked at Panhandle Converter and knew Griffin’s routine. In 2020 police named three suspects: Kevin Shawn Thornton, Jessie Jerome Swain, and Kendrick Fitzgerald Bryant. Thornton and Swain were charged with murder and first-degree robbery and held without bond; Bryant, 17 at the time of the killing, was identified as a suspect but was already serving prison time on unrelated charges. Thornton later pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and received a one-year sentence. Swain’s trial ended in a mistrial in January 2026 and he awaits retrial.

Griffin left behind his wife, Ginger, and their children.