Dennis Allred was a 30-year-old Kitsap County Sheriff’s Deputy on patrol on the night of April 19, 1978, when he stopped a pickup truck towing a Chevrolet Malibu along Illahee Road in East Bremerton. The Malibu had broken free from the tow cable and was later found to be stolen. While speaking with two occupants, James Stemkowski and Steve Richards, a third man, Nedley G. Norman Jr., emerged and ambushed Deputy Allred and shot him with a .357 handgun. Allred was struck in the back, then again in the chest and head, and a passing nurse found him and called for help, but he died at the scene.

A manhunt captured all three suspects a few days later. Norman was convicted of first-degree murder in October 1978 and sentenced to death; Stemkowski and Richards were convicted of second-degree murder and imprisoned. The Washington State Supreme Court later found the state’s death penalty law unconstitutional in 1981, and Norman’s sentence was commuted to life without parole; a federal appeals decision about his resentencing later made parole theoretically possible after 50 years. Norman has been denied release at subsequent parole hearings amid opposition from Deputy Allred’s family and the law enforcement community.

Are there witnesses or records from April 19, 1978, who can add detail about the traffic stop or the moments leading up to the shooting?