James Thomas Rankin, a 39-year-old white male born on August 15, 1941, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was tragically murdered on March 20, 1981. At the time of his death, he was residing in Mohave, California. Rankin was kidnapped on March 19, 1981, from the parking lot of a Denny's restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri, by Kelvin Shelby Malone and his accomplice, Michael Terry Crenshaw. The assailants forced Rankin into the trunk of his own car and drove him across state lines to a remote area in the Mojave Desert. In the early hours of March 20, Malone executed Rankin by shooting him to death. Although Rankin's body was never recovered, his personal belongings were found in Malone's possession upon his arrest.
Kelvin Malone's crime spree spanned multiple states and included several violent crimes. Prior to Rankin's murder, Malone had already committed a series of offenses, including the kidnapping of 37-year-old Leroy Cambs in Santa Maria, California, on March 10, 1981. Following Rankin's murder, Malone continued his violent spree, which included the kidnapping and murder of 55-year-old Myrtle Dee Benham in Baker, California, and the shooting death of 51-year-old Minnie Ola White near Blythe, California.
Malone and Crenshaw were apprehended on March 24, 1981, in San Jose, California, while driving a stolen vehicle. At the time of their arrest, they were in possession of firearms and credit cards belonging to both Rankin and White. Both men were taken into custody and placed in separate jails in Southern California.
Kelvin Malone was subsequently convicted of multiple murders, including that of 39-year-old white male James T. Rankin. He was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on January 13, 1999, at the Potosi Correctional Center in Missouri.
