On March 25, 1989, Cottageville, South Carolina police chief Jerry Wayne Shelton, 28, was killed after a traffic stop escalated. Shelton had been chief for just over a year and had previously worked as a paramedic. He stopped a pickup for speeding and found a young man and a woman inside with open containers of alcohol and illegal narcotics. Shelton transported them to Cottageville Town Hall, which also housed the police station.

While at the town hall the female suspect produced a hidden handgun and handed it to the male suspect. The man opened fire, shooting Chief Shelton multiple times; he and the woman then fled with Shelton’s service weapon and patrol car. A statewide manhunt led to the pair’s capture two weeks later. The male suspect later pleaded guilty to Shelton’s murder and received a life sentence; the female suspect was acquitted.

Did anyone in Cottageville at the time have information about the traffic stop or the suspects that hasn’t been shared publicly?