Betty Jean Barker was 21 and working a night shift at the Kwik Stop market in Danville, Virginia, on November 14, 1983, covering for a colleague who was ill. During a robbery that night, a man identified as Johnny Watkins Jr. entered the store and fatally shot Barker, then fled with $89.89.

Investigators linked the same .22-caliber pistol to a second convenience store killing eight days later, the murder of clerk Carl Buchanan. Evidence recovered from the apartment of Watkins’ brother reportedly included items belonging to Buchanan and the murder weapon; Watkins was arrested and later convicted in 1984 for the murders of Barker and Buchanan. His defense raised claims that black jurors had been excluded from the juries that sentenced him to death.

The convictions were ultimately upheld and the Supreme Court declined to review the case. Does anyone have memories of the Kwik Stop or recollections from Danville in November 1983 that could add context to Barker’s last shift?