A planned, violent entry into a DeKalb County condominium in the fall of 1986 ended in multiple deaths. Charles Wayne Smith, 54, was at home with his sons Steven and Richard and his companion Margaret Sweat when two men, identified as Larry Grant Lonchar and Mitchell Wells, arrived. Posing as a special agent, the pair gained access, restrained occupants and opened fire. Charles Wayne Smith, Steven Smith and Margaret Sweat died of multiple gunshot wounds; Richard Smith, shot multiple times while in a separate bedroom, survived after feigning death.

Investigators focused on Larry Grant Lonchar as the primary perpetrator. He was arrested, tried and convicted by a jury on three counts of murder for the deaths of Charles Wayne Smith, Steven Smith and Margaret Sweat, and one count of aggravated assault for the attack on Richard Smith; Lonchar received death sentences on each murder count.