Regina Woodward Nickles, 45, was killed in the line of duty in the pre-dawn hours of October 14, 1998. A 15-year law enforcement veteran and the first woman on the Harrodsburg Police Department, she was campaigning for Mercer County Sheriff at the time. Nickles and her partner, Officer Eric Barkman, responded to a report of a suspicious person at the Trim Masters factory parking lot. They found a man in a nearby field; when they illuminated him with a spotlight he rose and opened fire. Nickles was struck twice and died at the scene. Barkman returned fire and wounded the assailant.

The shooter was identified as John Paul Works, who was out on bail for felony assault and wanton endangerment at the time. Works was arrested, and a Boyle County jury convicted him of murder in 2000; the jury sentenced him to life in prison. A section of U.S. Route 127 in Mercer County was designated the Officer Regina Nickles Memorial Highway in 2015.

If anyone knew Officer Nickles, her work in Harrodsburg, or has information about the night of October 14, 1998, please come forward.