On the evening of December 20, 1976, 21-year-old Quenette Shehane, a white female and recent graduate of Birmingham-Southern College, made a quick trip to a convenience store in Jefferson, Alabama, for a bottle of salad dressing. This errand would tragically be her last. After she failed to return to her boyfriend's fraternity house, a search was initiated. The following day, her nude and frozen body was discovered by the roadside; she had been abducted, raped, and shot multiple times.
Her car was found abandoned with her belongings, including wrapped Christmas presents, still inside.
The investigation into the brutal murder led police to three students from Daniel Payne College: Wallace Norrell Thomas, Eddie Bernard Neal, and Jerry Lee Jones. A significant breakthrough in the case came when Thomas was arrested during an armed robbery a month later. The handgun he possessed was ballistically matched to the weapon used to kill Shehane. Further evidence emerged when Thomas's palm print was identified on Shehane's car, and a television set stolen from her vehicle was traced back to him.
The three men were subsequently charged with the abduction, rape, and murder of Quenette Shehane. Wallace Norrell Thomas, identified as the triggerman, was convicted and, after a series of appeals, was executed in Alabama's electric chair on July 13, 1990. Eddie Bernard Neal was also convicted for his role in the crime and received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jerry Lee Jones, the third man involved, was initially sentenced to death, but his sentence was later appealed, and he was ultimately given a life sentence. He has been denied parole on multiple occasions.
