John Tatum Jr. was 36 when he was shot to death inside his home in Bessemer, Alabama, on January 7, 1977, one of three people killed that afternoon. The triple homicide also took the lives of his 34-year-old wife, Lois Jean Tatum, and 60-year-old Willie Mae Hammock. When Hammock refused, Hill shot her in the back of the head in a bedroom, then shot John Tatum twice in the head in the dining room and chased and shot Lois Jean Tatum in the back of the head as she fled through the house.

The 13-year-old girl and her adopted brother witnessed the killings; Hill forced the two teenagers to leave with him and then fled toward Georgia. His car later broke down in North Carolina, the girl escaped and alerted authorities, and Hill was arrested with the murder weapon in his possession. Hill was charged with capital murder and convicted at trial in October 1977; a retrial was later held in August 1979, again resulting in a capital conviction and death sentence. If anyone knew the Tatums or was in Bessemer that January, information could still be important to understanding what happened that day.