In the quiet early days of February 1983, a life of service was tragically cut short on a Mississippi highway. Trooper George Danny Nash, Jr., a 23-year-old male, had only been with the Mississippi Highway Patrol for three months when he was killed in the line of duty on February 4, 1983. He had previously served as a radio operator for Troop J in Hattiesburg before being assigned to Troop M in Brookhaven.
On that fateful day, Trooper Nash conducted a traffic stop on a speeding vehicle
on Highway 84. The car was traveling at 67 miles per hour in a 55-mile-per-hour zone. Unbeknownst to the young trooper, the occupants of the stolen vehicle were two escaped convicts from a Georgia jail. As he approached the car, one of the convicts shot him in the chest at point-blank range. Although he was wearing a bulletproof vest, the impact caused him to fall back towards his patrol car.
The driver of the vehicle then exited, callously walked over to the fallen trooper, and shot him in the head, ending his life. A passing civilian later discovered Trooper Nash lying in front of his patrol car, his service weapon still in its holster. The two convicts fled the scene, sparking a widespread manhunt.
In May 1983, the two suspects were apprehended. One was captured in Jackson, Tennessee, and the other in Hardin County, Kentucky. Both men were subsequently convicted for the murder of Trooper George Danny Nash, Jr. and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The shooter received his sentence on August 19, 1983, and his accomplice was sentenced on October 12, 1983. A section of Highway 84 in Franklin County has since been dedicated in memory of the fallen trooper.
