On the afternoon of December 31, 1981, Mississippi Highway Patrolman Billy M. Langham, 37, was killed on U.S. Highway 49 inside the city limits of Collins, Covington County, while on duty. He had stopped a speeding car occupied by four men and noticed a butcher knife on the front seat. After removing one occupant for a search, Langham took the knife and placed it on the roof of his patrol car.

While searching the vehicle, one of the men grabbed the knife and stabbed him in the back between the shoulder blades. Trooper Langham attempted to draw his service revolver but was overpowered; he was then fatally shot with his own weapon. Witnesses pursued the four men and about an hour later the suspects were apprehended trying to run a roadblock south of Collins. At the time of the incident Langham had served eight years with the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

Were there witnesses who have not yet spoken publicly about that traffic stop or the moments that followed?