On a calm morning in October, 53-year-old William Gregg Hawkins, a resident of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was enjoying a fishing trip with his daughter at the Mona Boat Ramp on J. Percy Priest Lake. The tranquility of the day was shattered when this outing turned into a tragedy. As they were preparing to leave, Hawkins walked from their boat toward his truck in the parking lot. It is believed that he interrupted a burglary in progress involving his vehicle.
In a sudden and violent encounter, Hawkins was shot twice by an unknown assailant who then fled the scene. His daughter tragically witnessed the aftermath, holding her father's hand as he passed away at the scene on October 16, 2015. Hawkins, a dedicated engineer at the Nissan plant in Smyrna for 24 years, was an avid outdoorsman and a beloved family man, survived by his wife of 33 years, Janet, and their two daughters. He was known as a kind and faithful man who was deeply involved in his church and passionate about teaching firearms safety.
The investigation into the murder of William Gregg Hawkins was met with immediate challenges. There were no witnesses to the shooting itself, and the remote location of the boat ramp lacked any surveillance cameras. Despite a thorough investigation by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office, a primary suspect has never been identified. In the years following his death, the case has remained unsolved. A reward of $10,000 was announced by the governor of Tennessee for any information that would lead to an arrest and conviction in the case, which was later increased by his family, but the appeal has yet to yield a breakthrough. The murder of William Gregg Hawkins remains a painful open wound for his family and the community, a senseless act of violence that cut short the life of a respected man.
