In the cold twilight of a February evening in 1971, a routine traffic stop on Interstate 40, just west of Houck, Arizona, escalated into a tragedy that cut short the life of 27-year-old Arizona Highway Patrolman James Lee Keeton. A dedicated officer from a police family, Keeton had pulled over a Pontiac for a license plate discrepancy. Unbeknownst to him, the man behind the wheel was Bertram Greenberg, a 38-year-old parolee who was the subject of a manhunt for the brutal rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles just a day earlier.
A passing motorist witnessed a struggle between the two men inside Keeton's patrol car. In the ensuing confrontation, Greenberg managed to gain control of Officer Keeton's service revolver. Keeton was able to send out a distress call, but it was too late. He was fatally shot at the scene with his own weapon. Greenberg fled in his Pontiac, leaving the fallen officer by the roadside. This violent encounter was the beginning of a deadly rampage that would claim more lives.
Minutes after the shooting, another Highway Patrolman, Don Allen Beckstead, stopped Greenberg's vehicle east of Houck, likely unaware of the preceding events. Greenberg, now armed with Keeton's revolver, shot and wounded Officer Beckstead, who would succumb to his injuries two days later. Greenberg's flight from justice continued, and before he was ultimately located by New Mexico authorities, he would kidnap and kill another individual. His violent spree came to an end when he was shot and killed by law enforcement.
