In the pre-dawn hours of November 10, 1978, Carl Nelson and his wife Willene were murdered in their Rosa community home in Blount County, Alabama during a robbery. The couple had been shot and stabbed; both died at the scene. The intruders also attacked four family members — the Nelsons’ three children, aged 21, 13, and 10, and an 85-year-old grandmother — who survived despite sustaining critical gunshot and stab wounds. The 21-year-old son Tony was awakened and confronted the intruders before being shot; he later located his younger siblings severely injured at the foot of their parents’ bed.

Investigators arrested Aaron Lee Jones and Arthur Lee Giles; Giles had worked for Carl Nelson previously. Jones later said they had gone to the house to steal money, claiming Giles had not been paid adequately for past work. Jones and Giles were tried for the killings; both were convicted and received death sentences after retrials and resentencing proceedings.

Does anyone have firsthand memories of the Rosa community around 1978 or information about the Nelson family that could help fill gaps in the timeline?