On a September day in 2018, two bodies were found inside a pickup truck beneath an Interstate 22 overpass near Dora, Alabama. The deceased were identified as 70-year-old John Allen Softley Sr. and 30-year-old Monica Jean Graves; both had fatal gunshot wounds.

Softley was a Parrish councilman since early 2017, a part-time detective with the Jasper Police Department, and a retired investigator from Walker County. Authorities later determined the deaths to be a murder-suicide, concluding that Softley shot Graves and then himself. Reports state the two knew each other, but the nature of their relationship was not made public.

The finding transformed an initial double-homicide investigation into a closed murder-suicide case, leaving the community and families grappling with the outcome. If anyone knew Softley or Graves, or has information about their relationship, please come forward.