On a tragic night, Saturday, March 31, 1984, the life of 46-year-old Miller County Deputy Sheriff Charles E. Barnes, Sr. was cut short. While on patrol along Holly Springs Road, Deputy Barnes stopped to investigate a suspicious vehicle parked on the roadside. Inside the car were three individuals: 32-year-old Roger Dale Porier, who had been released from prison just three weeks prior, 17-year-old James Shelton, and 14-year-old Gene Emfinger, Jr.
As Deputy Barnes engaged the occupants in
conversation, one of them created a diversion. This allowed another to retrieve a rifle from their vehicle. The three then overpowered the deputy, forcing him to his knees before fatally shooting him. After the execution-style murder, they fled the scene in his patrol car. A fellow deputy discovered Barnes after he failed to respond to radio calls.
The day following the murder, the prime suspect, who had a lengthy criminal record, was killed in a shootout with law enforcement officers in Texas. The two younger suspects were apprehended. The 17-year-old was subsequently found guilty of capital murder and received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, although this sentence was overturned a year later. The other youth was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
