Janet Lockett was a 27-year-old Black woman from Elba, Alabama, who was killed on September 4, 1989, in the violent end of a domestic dispute with her common-law husband, Randy Walton. According to the surviving court record, Walton had been transported earlier that day by Officer Michael Patrick to the home of Lockett’s parents, where she was staying. Walton was allowed to sit in the front seat of the patrol car, struck the officer, took the officer’s revolver, ran into the home, and shot Lockett before shooting himself.

Burial records and memorial listings place her death in Elba on that date and list her age as 27. Because Walton died at the scene, there was no criminal prosecution of a living suspect; the subsequent litigation was a civil suit brought by Lockett’s mother, Mary Lee Brown, as administratrix of the estate, alleging gross negligence by the officer and the City of Elba for bringing Walton to the residence and permitting him to sit in the front seat.

If anyone knew Janet or was in Elba in September 1989 and has relevant information about what happened that day, please share what is known.