On the evening of August 25, 1984, 51-year-old Wilbur Tilden Nelson was working as a clerk at the Guest Service Station in Attalla, Etowah County, Alabama, when a robbery turned into a quadruple homicide. The shooter, Thomas Jerry Fortenberry, entered the station intent on stealing money; the attack left Nelson, the owner’s son Ronald Michael Guest, and customers William Robert Bobby Payne and Nancy S. Brandon Payne dead. The reported motive was $400.

Investigators later recovered the murder weapon on the bank of a nearby creek and traced it to a gun repair shop connected to Fortenberry’s father. Fortenberry gave varying accounts to police, at times confessing and at times blaming someone else, but he did lead officers to where he’d discarded the pistol.

Fortenberry was tried in 1985, convicted of two counts of capital murder tied to the robbery and to the killing of two or more persons, and the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty. Anyone with memories of that night or information about the station or victims is asked to come forward.