In the early morning hours of n July 30 1977, Charles Boatwright was hanging out with his cousin Ronnie Lewis at the home of another cousin of theirs Loy Harriman in Wesley, Arkansas.
According to police statements, the three cousins stayed up all night, and early in the morning, they decided to go fishing in an area called War Eagle.
At around 5 AM they piled into Charles’ truck and started driving. But they needed some food, so en route, they decided to stop at the store to buy some hot dogs to roast during their fishing trip.
The Frederick's Grocery and Service Station located at the intersection of Highway 68 and 23 in the northwest portion of Huntsville, Arkansas. In a small town, it’s a popular destination to get early morning gas or late night snacks, and back in 1977, it was open 24 hours a day.
As Charles, Loy and Ronnie pulled up to the store, two women pulled up right behind them. All five of them entered the store. At first, they didn't see anyone inside.
But then, Loy said “it looks like someone is hurt up there." At that point, Charles said that he walked up to the left side of the register and saw a man’s feet sticking out.
The man was 20-year-old University of Arkansas Student Rex Terrell, who worked the overnight shift at Frederick’s. He was lying in a pool of blood and gasping for breath. It looked like he had been shot multiple times.
One of the women tried to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation, but it was too late. He died there, on the floor of the gas station, in a pool of his own blood. Nothing from the store had been taken.
The whole community wanted to know, who would want to shoot a likable, kind and hard-working young man with seemingly no enemies, and leave him there to die in a pool of his own blood?
If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.
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