Windsor, North Carolina – It was a warm Sunday evening in the quiet town of Windsor, where everyone knew each other, and crime was a whisper rather than a scream. However, on June 6, 1993, that calm was shattered by one of the most brutal and baffling mass murders in North Carolina history. Thirty years later, the killer remains at large.
The Be-Lo Grocery store was located in the heart of Bertie County, on Granville Street. According to the FBI, the store closed its doors promptly at 6:00 p.m. Minutes later, four members of the night cleaning crew arrived for their shift: Johnnie Rankins, Sylvester Welch, Jasper Hardy, and Thomas Hardy. Unbeknownst to them, a man with murder in his eyes had already made his move. Earlier that day, an unidentified man entered the store and hid inside, waiting until the last customer left and the doors were locked.
The FBI reports that when the cleaning crew walked in, he emerged with a handgun and unleashed chaos. The gunman quickly rounded up the store’s manager, Grover Cecil, and cashier, Joyce Reason, forcing them to the back. He then herded the cleaning crew—six victims in total—into an aisle near the rear. With chilling control, he ordered Cecil to bind the others with duct tape and dog leashes—tools of submission that would come to define his signature. Once the victims were restrained, the gunman forced Cecil to tie up Joyce and then bound Cecil himself.…