In the winter of 1984, Maisie Carlene Gray, a 57-year-old female, had been working at a Majik Mart convenience store in Attalla, Alabama, for about three weeks. On the night of December 10th, while she was working alone, a man named Michael Eugene Thompson entered the store armed with a. 22 caliber pistol. Thompson forced Gray to empty the cash register and then abducted her at gunpoint, forcing her into the trunk of his car.
After driving for a period of time, Thompson took Gray to a
remote well in Blount County. There, he forced her into the well and shot at her multiple times until he ran out of ammunition. Determined to ensure her death, Thompson then drove to his girlfriend's home to retrieve more bullets. He returned to the well with his girlfriend, Shirley Franklin, who held a torch while Thompson fired several more shots into the well.
The crime came to light when Franklin's husband contacted the police. Her admissions led investigators to the well where they discovered Maisie Gray's body. Thompson was subsequently arrested and provided complete confessions to the police. During his trial, Thompson attempted to retract his confession, claiming it was coerced and that Shirley Franklin was the one who had killed Gray. The jury did not believe his account.
Michael Eugene Thompson was convicted of the abduction and murder of Maisie Carlene Gray and was sentenced to death. After years of appeals, his sentence was carried out on March 13, 2003, when he was executed by lethal injection. Thompson made no final statement.
