On the evening of Thursday, April 16, 1998, Investigator Brandon Heath Thacker, a 27-year-old male, was traveling to an undercover assignment along the Western Kentucky Parkway near Eddyville. A four-year veteran of the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and a U.S. Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War, Thacker was part of a caravan of agents in separate, unmarked vehicles.
He was in the last car of the procession.
As they drove, Investigator Thacker observed a vehicle being operated erratically and radioed his fellow agents to alert them to the situation. Moments later, in a sudden and tragic turn of events, he radioed again to report that he had been shot. An agent in the vehicle ahead of his looked in her rearview mirror and witnessed his car swerve. She immediately turned around to render aid.
While one agent stopped to assist the mortally wounded Thacker, the other two agents pursued the erratically driven vehicle. They successfully stopped the car and apprehended the driver. Investigator Thacker succumbed to a single gunshot wound inflicted by a. 44 caliber handgun.
The suspect was subsequently arrested and faced legal proceedings. The individual was ultimately found guilty of manslaughter and received a sentence of 20 years in prison for the death of Investigator Thacker. At the time of his death, Brandon Heath Thacker was survived by his wife and their 18-month-old daughter, as well as his parents and two brothers. He was laid to rest in the Richmond Cemetery in Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky.
