In the early morning of May 24, 1978, Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Conroy G. O’Brien, 26, was killed after a routine traffic stop on the Kansas Turnpike near Matfield Green. At about 5 a.m. O’Brien stopped a car for speeding; inside were three men later identified as Jimmie K. Nelms, Walter Myrick, and Stanford Swain. While O’Brien was writing a citation, the three men approached, overpowered him, took his service weapon, forced him into a ditch, pistol-whipped him—fracturing his skull—and shot him twice in the head at close range. A passing truck driver discovered his patrol car with its lights still flashing and found his body about an hour later.

The three suspects fled but were caught after a high-speed encounter that ended in a crash and a gun battle; a manhunt led to their capture that evening. Nelms and Myrick were tried and convicted of premeditated murder, felony murder, and aggravated kidnapping and received two life sentences. Swain pleaded guilty to lesser charges and testified against his co-defendants; he was released from prison in 1983. Trooper O’Brien was survived by his wife, who was pregnant with their daughter.

Did anyone in the area at the time recall seeing the stopped car or the patrol vehicle that morning?