Daniel Ruffin was 20 when he was shot while walking his dog near his home on South Maple Street in Stuttgart, Arkansas, on July 22, 2014. He died of his injuries the next day. Friends and family remembered him as a kind, well-liked young man, and the shooting left the small town reeling.

Investigators detained three teenagers within hours; two were released after questioning and one youth, 17-year-old Arthur Hicks Jr., a former classmate of Ruffin’s, became the focus. Authorities concluded the shooting was connected to a robbery, and the Arkansas County Prosecutor’s Office filed capital murder charges against Hicks Jr. The Arkansas State Police assisted in the inquiry because one of the initially detained teenagers was related to a Stuttgart Police Department employee.

Hicks Jr. was tried as an adult, convicted of capital murder, and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after serving 28 years; the Arkansas Supreme Court later upheld the conviction. Does anyone have information about Daniel’s final movements that evening or saw him on South Maple Street on July 22, 2014?