Montez Smith Bacon, 64, died after being found unresponsive behind the wheel at the Fleming Short Stop on Highway 196 on March 3, 2017. First responders removed her from the vehicle and she was taken to the Liberty County Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy showed a gunshot wound to her right shoulder; a .380-caliber bullet was recovered.

Witnesses reported a man later identified as Montez’s son, Nicholas Bacon, exiting the back seat after the car struck a small structure and walking away with a backpack. A Liberty County deputy stopped Nicholas nearby and found a .380-caliber pistol on his person. Ballistics testing tied the shell casing from the vehicle and the bullet recovered from Montez to that pistol. Prosecutors said there had been a domestic incident earlier that day in Savannah; the defense described the shooting as accidental.

A jury convicted Nicholas Bacon of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and he received life with the possibility of parole. Did anyone in the area know Montez or see her and Nicholas together that day?