In the early morning hours of September 14, 1986, Bruce Keeter, an assistant manager at a Hardee's restaurant in Columbus, Georgia, was found dead inside the establishment. He had been last seen alive at 1:20 a.m., preparing the cash registers for the next business day. His mother reported him missing when he did not return home. His body was discovered shortly after 6:00 a.m., and it was determined that almost $400 was missing from the restaurant's safe.
Keeter's car was later found abandoned by an interstate highway with a passenger-side window broken out.
The investigation into the murder and robbery led Columbus police to Randy Hubbard, a friend of Ronald Leroy Kinsman, on December 4, 1986. Hubbard informed the police that Kinsman had confessed to killing a man during a robbery at a Hardee's with two other individuals. At the request of law enforcement, Hubbard made a recorded phone call to Kinsman. During their conversation about planning another robbery, Kinsman made incriminating statements regarding the Hardee's robbery and Keeter's murder.
Following the recorded conversation, Ronald Leroy Kinsman and two other suspects, identified only as Patterson and Morgan, were arrested on December 5, 1986. After learning that Morgan had confessed, Kinsman also admitted his involvement in the murder and armed robbery. However, he claimed that Patterson was the one who had killed Keeter. Kinsman confessed to driving the victim's car to the location where it was abandoned and breaking the window to retrieve the keys, as he feared his fingerprints were on them.
Ronald Leroy Kinsman was indicted on December 30, 1986, and his trial took place from April 13 to April 18, 1987. A jury in Muscogee County convicted him of malice murder, armed robbery, and theft by taking. On April 18, 1987, Kinsman was sentenced to death for his role in the murder of Bruce Keeter.
