On the morning of March 25, 1978, in Henrico County, Virginia, a tragedy unfolded at a local Shoney's restaurant that would leave a lasting scar on the community. Before the doors opened to the public, an employee named Charles Sylvester Stamper perpetrated a horrific act of violence. Franklin Delano Cooley, a 40-year-old male employee at the restaurant, was one of the victims of the deadly robbery.
Inside the restaurant, Stamper locked Cooley, who worked as the janitor, along with the
morning manager, Steven Staples, and a waitress, Agnes Hicks, in a walk-in cooler. He then fatally shot all three with a. 22 caliber pistol. The motive for this brutal act was robbery, as Stamper proceeded to steal $4,000 from the restaurant's safe.
When authorities arrived at the gruesome scene, they found shattered glass at the entrance and the bodies of Staples and Hicks inside. Cooley was discovered shot and was rushed to a local hospital. He succumbed to his injuries without ever regaining consciousness.
The investigation quickly led to Charles Stamper, who was apprehended and charged with the murders. Despite the evidence against him being circumstantial, it was compelling enough to lead to a conviction. On November 17, 1978, a jury found Stamper guilty of three counts of capital murder in the commission of an armed robbery and sentenced him to death. Following a review of the probation officer's report, the trial court upheld the jury's decision. After a series of legal appeals, Charles Sylvester Stamper's death sentence was carried out in 1993.
