On a tragic day in Etowah County, Alabama, Ronald Michael Guest was killed on August 25, 1984, during a robbery at the Guest Service Station near Attalla. He was the son of the station's owner. Three other individuals lost their lives in the brutal crime: a station employee named Wilbur T. Nelson, and two customers, Robert William Payne and his wife, Nancy Payne.
The investigation into the quadruple homicide led authorities to Thomas Jerry Fortenberry. A key piece of evidence was the murder weapon, a pistol that was discovered on the bank of Black Creek in March 1985. Ballistic tests confirmed it was the gun used in the killings. The firearm was traced back to a gun repair shop partially owned by Fortenberry's father. Following this lead, investigators brought Fortenberry in for questioning on May 2, 1985.
During his interrogation, Fortenberry confessed to the robbery and the murders, providing several accounts of the events. He was subsequently arrested and charged with capital murder. In 1986, a jury found Thomas Fortenberry guilty of the murders of Ronald Michael Guest, Wilbur T. Nelson, Robert Payne, and Nancy Payne. The jury unanimously recommended the death penalty, a sentence that was formally imposed by the trial judge. After years of appeals, Fortenberry was executed by lethal injection on August 7, 2003, for the murders committed during the 1984 robbery.
