Detective Gary Lee Ward was 45 and a 14-year veteran of the Oklahoma City Police Department when he was killed on the evening of February 2, 1985. He was working an off-duty security detail at the Holiday Inn on NW 39th Expressway, filling in for an ill brother-in-law, when he confronted a man attempting to steal a television. A physical struggle followed in the motel courtyard and the suspect, identified as Alvin Parker, gained control of Detective Ward’s service revolver and shot him. The suspect fled the scene.

Alvin Parker was arrested several days after the killing, charged, and tried. He was first convicted of first-degree murder and given life, but a new trial was ordered in 1989 because of inflammatory and prejudicial statements made by the district attorney at the first trial. At the second trial Parker was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 199 years in prison. In 2013 a federal appeals court ruled Parker could be entitled to a third trial after a key witness recanted their testimony.

Did anyone in the Oklahoma City area know Detective Ward or witness the incident at the Holiday Inn on NW 39th Expressway?