In the winter of 1986, a tragic and violent series of events unfolded in Salem, Virginia, culminating in the death of 29-year-old Virginia State Trooper Ricky Marshall McCoy. A white male, McCoy had been with the Virginia State Police for five and a half years, a job he was inspired to pursue after the violent death of his older brother years earlier.
On the morning of January 3rd, Trooper McCoy responded to a report of a vehicle being driven erratically along Interstate 81. When he located and approached the car, he was ambushed by the two occupants. They shot him in the face with a sawed-off shotgun. Despite his grievous wound, McCoy attempted to crawl back to the relative safety of his patrol car, but one of the assailants pursued him and shot him again, ending his life.
The perpetrators, later identified as Danziel Nathaniel Malcolm, a 33-year-old illegal alien from Jamaica wanted for a murder in Pennsylvania, and Willie Anderson, a 23-year-old drifter, did not end their rampage there. Their violent spree had begun the previous night when they had shot a man and stolen his car near Winchester. After murdering Trooper McCoy, they fled the scene on foot and made their way to a nearby home. There, they murdered Anthony Loicano and abducted his wife, Christine.
Forcing Christine Loicano into her family's van, the two men led police on a high-speed chase. During the pursuit, they shot and killed Mrs. Loicano. The chase ended when the van swerved off the interstate and overturned. With law enforcement closing in, both Malcolm and Anderson took their own lives, bringing a violent and tragic chapter to a close.
