In the late evening hours of June 27, 1998, what began as a seemingly routine traffic stop in Moody, Alabama, quickly spiraled into a fatal encounter for 29-year-old male, Officer Keith Ashley Turner. Having served with the Moody Police Department for only two months, the young officer pulled over a stolen vehicle on County Highway 10 around 10:30 p.m.
Unbeknownst to him, the car was occupied by two dangerous fugitives, Mario Centobie and Jeremy Granberry, who had recently escaped from a Mississippi sheriff while being transported to court. In the days following their escape, the pair had already been involved in an altercation that resulted in the shooting and wounding of another officer in Tuscaloosa.
As Officer Turner approached the vehicle, he was met with sudden and deadly violence. Centobie, feigning to retrieve his license and registration, instead produced a. 45 caliber handgun and fired three shots at the officer. One bullet struck Turner in his protective vest, another hit his hip, and the third, tragically, was a fatal shot to the back of his head. Despite having called for backup prior to the stop, assistance arrived too late to save him. The two assailants fled the scene, sparking an extensive manhunt.
The search for Centobie and Granberry intensified over the following days. One of the suspects was apprehended by Moody police officers the day after the shooting. The second fugitive, Centobie, managed to evade capture for a longer period. On July 4th, in a desperate attempt to escape the area, he kidnapped a man in a store parking lot and forced him to drive towards Mobile. The kidnapped man was able to escape at a rest area and alert law enforcement, leading to Centobie's final capture by Mississippi authorities on July 5, 1998.
Following their arrests, both men faced justice for their crimes. One of the individuals was sentenced to death and was executed on April 28, 2005. The other received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole and ultimately died in prison in 2024. Officer Turner, a husband and father, was remembered for his dedicated service, having previously been with the Southside Police Department for nine months before joining the force in Moody.
