On a Wednesday afternoon, August 18, 2021, the life of 21-year-old Promise Leah Kristine Mays was tragically cut short. She and her 62-year-old grandmother, Pamela Sledd, were arriving for their shift at the NHK Seating of America automotive plant near Frankfort, Indiana, when they were shot and killed in the parking lot. Both women, who were coworkers at the facility, died at the scene.
The suspect, identified by other factory workers as 26-year-old Gary Cecil Ferrell II, also an
employee at the plant and Promise Mays' ex-boyfriend, fled the scene in his car. His escape was short-lived, as police pursued him in a high-speed chase that ended when he crashed his vehicle into a construction zone. Ferrell was then taken into custody without resistance.
Initially, prosecutors sought the death penalty against Ferrell for the murders. However, a plea deal was reached after his defense raised the issue of intellectual disability. In April 2023, Ferrell pleaded guilty to two counts of murder. In September 2023, a judge sentenced him to 110 years in prison. During sentencing, the judge described the killings as premeditated, 'brutal and heinous,' noting the horrific detail that both Mays and her grandmother were forced to watch the other being shot. The judge stated that Ferrell's actions stemmed from a sense of 'entitlement to control and possess Promise Mays, whether in life or in death.'
