In the spring of 1964, a grim discovery marked a dark day in the history of Gwinnett County, Georgia. The life of Police Officer Ralph King Davis, a 49-year-old male, was tragically cut short in a brutal act of violence that also claimed the lives of two of his fellow officers.
On the night of April 17, 1964, Officer Davis and his partner, Officer Jerry Everett, were taking an ill colleague, Officer Marvin Gravitt, home.
Their route took them near Norcross, where they responded to a call about suspicious activity on Arc Way. There, they encountered several individuals in the act of stripping a vehicle for its parts. What began as a routine investigation swiftly devolved into a fatal confrontation. The next day, the officers' patrol car was found abandoned. A search of the nearby wooded area revealed a horrific scene: the bodies of all three officers were found together, having been handcuffed and shot a total of 14 times.
Several weeks after the murders, three suspects were taken into custody. One of the individuals arrested was a former Gwinnett County deputy sheriff who had known the slain officers. In a move to secure a conviction, one of the suspects was granted immunity in exchange for testifying against the other two. The trial concluded with death sentences for the remaining two suspects. However, these sentences were later commuted to life in prison. One of the convicted men was paroled in 1989. The former deputy died in prison in May of 2016.
