On October 20, 1975, Cloud’s Grocery in Casscoe, Arkansas, was the scene of a violent armed robbery that ended in murder. Seventy-six-year-old retired farmer Wesley Noble was among the store’s customers when three men—identified as Edward Charles Pickens, Antonio Clark, and Sherwood Vincent Gooch—entered armed with a sawed-off shotgun and a .22 caliber pistol. The robbers forced everyone to lie face down and then shot seven people in the back of the head. Noble and fellow customer Jimmy Scherm died of their wounds; other victims included the store owner, a female clerk, and additional customers. The female clerk was sexually assaulted by two of the assailants during the incident.

Pickens and Gooch were stopped later that day in a stolen vehicle in Memphis; stolen items from the robbery were found in the car and Pickens was wearing the clerk’s wedding ring when arrested. Clark was captured soon after. All three were charged in the robbery and killings. Pickens was convicted of capital felony murder in Noble’s death and was executed by lethal injection on May 11, 1994; Clark also received a death sentence, and Gooch was sentenced to life without parole. Does anyone have memories of Cloud’s Grocery or of Casscoe around 1975 that could shed more light on the victims or the response that day?