On New Year’s Day 1995 a party in a small Old Southwest apartment off Highland Avenue in Roanoke, Virginia, ended in a mass killing. Daniel Barry Mason, 47, a U.S. Navy veteran born in Waynesboro and employed at Wayne-Tex, was one of five people killed when a neighbor, 27-year-old Robert Michael May, entered the apartment and carried out a deadly assault. The other victims were Dale J. Arnold, Susan Lynne Hutchinson, Cynthia Ann LaPrad, and Carl Leonard Stroop.

May had been drinking heavily on New Year’s Eve, and was arrested after the incident. He was later indicted on counts of capital and first-degree murder. Friends described the five victims as a close group who enjoyed socializing together; the community reacted with grief and disbelief.

If anyone knew Daniel or the others, or has information about what happened that night, please share what you can.