Wilbur Nelson

In the late summer of 1984, the quiet of Etowah, Alabama, was shattered by a brutal act of violence that claimed four lives, including that of 51-year-old Wilbur Tilden Nelson. On the evening of August 25th, Nelson was working his shift as a clerk at the Guest Service Station in Attalla. It was a night that would end in a bloody robbery, leaving a lasting scar on the community.

The tranquility of the evening was broken when Thomas Jerry Fortenberry, a man driven by a gambling habit and a ...

Victims of Guest Service Station slayings remembered

Two suspects sought in robbery that left four dead - UPI Archives