Trooper Bobby Lee Coggins, 26, was shot and killed on September 14, 1985, near Hot Springs, North Carolina, while on duty with the North Carolina Highway Patrol. He had served with the agency for one year and had worked as a seasonal park ranger for the National Park Service during the two previous years.

That afternoon Trooper Coggins stopped a stolen pickup truck he suspected was being driven under the influence. Dispatchers told him the vehicle’s two occupants were Arkansas prison escapees. One occupant fired a .25 caliber handgun; Trooper Coggins fired back but did not hit the occupants. A second occupant then took Trooper Coggins’ service weapon and shot him in the head.

Both suspects, both aged 23, were captured three days later after a search that used trackers and a bloodhound named Brandy. On May 21, 1986, they were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life plus 93 years. Trooper Coggins was survived by his fiancée, brother, and parents.