On Saturday, March 31, 1984, 46-year-old Miller County Deputy Sheriff Charles E. Barnes, Sr. was shot and killed while on patrol along Holly Springs Road. Barnes stopped to check a suspicious roadside vehicle occupied by 32-year-old Roger Dale Porier, 17-year-old James Shelton, and 14-year-old Gene Emfinger, Jr. During the encounter one occupant created a diversion while another retrieved a rifle from the car; the three overpowered Barnes, forced him to his knees, and fatally shot him before fleeing in his patrol car.

Barnes was later found by a fellow deputy after he failed to respond to radio calls. The day after the murder the prime suspect, who had a lengthy criminal record, was killed in a shootout with law enforcement in Texas. The two youths were captured; the 17-year-old was convicted of capital murder and given life without parole, a sentence overturned a year later, and the 14-year-old was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years.

Did anyone who knew Barnes or his patrol routes then or now see the vehicle or those men on Holly Springs Road that night?