Officer Lawrence Ray Noblitt, 42, was fatally shot on November 7, 1988, while on patrol in Conway. A ten-year veteran of the department and a U.S. Army Reservist, he was investigating a man attempting to hook up a flatbed trailer when that man, later identified as Kenneth Ray Clements, shot Noblitt five times at point-blank range with a .44 caliber handgun. Noblitt pursued his assailant for about 50 feet despite being mortally wounded before collapsing; a civilian who came upon the scene used the officer’s radio to summon help.

The subsequent investigation uncovered a conspiracy involving Clements and two Conway officers, R.L. Dickie McMillen and Randy Leach, allegedly planning theft and robbery. Clements was arrested days after the murder. He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, but that conviction was overturned on a technicality; at retrial he was convicted of second-degree murder and given a total of 36 years (20 years for murder, 16 years for theft). The two officers were also prosecuted for their roles in the criminal enterprise.