On Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1980, Ruby Washington, 69, and her husband J.L. Washington, 69, were found beaten, stabbed, and shot to death in a wooded area outside Douglas, Georgia. Earlier that day they had been seen driving in their apartment complex with a man identified as James Mathis sitting in the back seat of their car.

Investigators say Mathis was later accused of forcibly taking a pistol from J.L. Washington. He was arrested and charged with two counts of murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of armed robbery. In May 1991, at age 51, Mathis was convicted on all counts and received the death penalty for the murders, along with life terms for the kidnappings and an additional twenty-year sentence for the armed robbery. The case went through multiple appeals, including a 1989 ruling in which a U.S. District judge overturned the death sentence on grounds of ineffective counsel; the appeals process continued thereafter.

Does anyone have additional information about the Washingtons, their last movements on November 27, 1980, or witnesses who saw the couple with Mathis that day?