Johnny Montague Edrington was a 34-year-old Kentucky State Trooper killed on duty during a traffic stop on KY 80, seven miles west of London, on a cold night in December 1988. His body was found in a ditch near his patrol car; the Kentucky State Police classified his death as an unsolved murder and the case was treated as a homicide. He had been a recently married man, five months into his marriage, and his wife was pregnant with their first child.

The official investigation produced no named suspect or arrest, and the case remained open. Decades later, the death remains controversial: a retired post commander has said the initial consensus at the scene and among local medical officials was that the wound was self-inflicted, a conclusion he alleges was overridden by higher-ranking officials. The associate state medical examiner at the time said he initially listed the manner of death as undetermined and noted significant gunshot residue on Edrington’s hands. Those conflicting accounts have left the official homicide designation clouded by unanswered questions.

If anyone has information about Trooper Edrington or that night on KY 80, please share what is known.