Robert Glenn "Bob" Tate, a 50-year-old white male, was found dead on October 8, 1983, in Sherman, Texas. Tate, along with three other victims, was discovered in a metal building that served as a hangar for ultralight airplanes on his ranch. The victims were all ultralight aircraft enthusiasts who had gathered at the hangar to meet with an unknown individual to discuss the sale of an ultralight aircraft. Tate and two other victims, Deputy Phillip Good, 29, and Jerry Brown, 51, were each shot twice in the head and stuffed under carpet remnants in the hangar. The fourth victim, Ronald Mayes, 37, a former Sherman police officer, was shot five times and found about 35 feet from the others just inside the shed door.
The investigation revealed that a .22-caliber weapon was used in the shootings, but it was unclear how many weapons or killers were involved. The autopsy results indicated that at least two and possibly all three men found under the carpeting had been shot with the gun against their heads, while Mayes' wounds indicated he had been shot from a distance. A missing ultralight aircraft, taken from the scene of the murders, represented investigators' best hope for finding a suspect or motive in the case. The aircraft, an orange ultralight owned by Tate, was seen in the hangar on the day of the murders but was missing when the bodies were discovered.
Lester Bower Jr., a chemical salesman from Arlington, Texas, was eventually arrested and charged with the murders. Prosecutors built a circumstantial case that Bower stole the aircraft and shot the men as they showed up at the hangar where Bower was to complete the purchase. Parts of the plane were later found at Bower's home. Bower was convicted of the murders and sentenced to death. He was executed on June 3, 2015, making him the oldest of the 526 Texas prisoners put to death since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982. Bower maintained his innocence until his execution, stating that much of what had been said and written about the case was not the truth. Despite his claims, the families of the victims felt that justice had been served with his execution.
