The Murder of Danny Longstreet
Early in the morning of March 14, 1997, Danny Longstreet left his home in Higginson, Arkansas, for another quiet police shift.
Longstreet was 39 years old and had joined the Higginson Police Department less than a year earlier after spending 20 years in the Army. The small town had only a little over 300 residents, and serious crime was rare.
That morning, however, Longstreet would never return home.
At about 5:20 a.m., someone approached his parked patrol car and fired three shots through the passenger-side window. Longstreet was killed inside the vehicle.
Investigators initially had very little evidence. But they soon discovered an unusual clue written on the dead officer’s hand: a vehicle license plate number.
That number eventually became one of the most important clues in the investigation.
What Happened to Danny Longstreet?
A Quiet Morning Patrol
Longstreet began his day around 3:20 a.m. He ate breakfast, cleaned his dishes and left home for work.
About an hour later, he was driving along Highway 11, the main road through Higginson.
His shift was quiet. He checked several vehicle registrations and noticed that one license plate did not match the vehicle it was attached to. The car had already left, so Longstreet simply wrote down the plate number for later investigation.
He then passed a roadside cafe where his friend Hazel Riley was working. Longstreet flashed his patrol lights as a greeting, and Riley waved back.
A few minutes later, Longstreet stopped near the intersection of Highway 11 and Baker Street.
There was a local school bus stop nearby, and police had received reports of drivers illegally passing buses. Longstreet parked in a vacant lot to watch the area.
He was still sitting in his patrol car nearly an hour later.
The Shooting
At around 5:20 a.m., Longstreet noticed movement outside his passenger-side window.
A person was standing next to the patrol car.
The person suddenly raised a handgun.
Three shots were fired.
At the nearby cafe, Hazel Riley heard the sounds. She was unsure whether they were gunshots or a vehicle backfiring. She eventually walked toward Longstreet’s patrol car to find out what had happened.
What she found shocked her.
Longstreet had been shot inside his patrol car.
Police Begin the Investigation
Sergeant J.R. Howard of the Arkansas State Police was assigned as the lead investigator.
The local police department had only two full-time officers, so the killing of one of them was major news in the small community.
When Howard arrived, investigators had already secured the area. Forensic technicians were photographing the patrol car, while officers spoke with witnesses.
Several people reported hearing three gunshots around 5:20 a.m. But nobody had seen the shooter.
Evidence Inside the Patrol Car
The passenger-side window of Longstreet’s patrol car was shattered.
Longstreet had been shot in the chest and arm. Investigators also found a shell casing on the passenger-side floor.
The broken window suggested that the shooter had been outside the vehicle when the shots were fired.
At first, this gave investigators little physical evidence to work with.
Then Howard noticed something unusual.
There were letters and numbers written on Longstreet’s palm.
They formed a license plate number.
The License Plate Leads Police to Dale Miller
Investigators immediately checked the license plate number.
It belonged to an old truck registered to a man named Dale Miller.
About five hours after the murder, Howard went to Miller’s home.
Miller confirmed that the license plate belonged to his old truck. But he said the truck had been broken down and sitting at his sister’s house for months.
Then Miller remembered something.
He said a man named Justin Swain had removed the plates from the truck several weeks earlier.
According to Miller, Swain had said he needed the plates because his own vehicle registration had expired. Miller had told him not to take them, but Swain had taken them anyway.
This made Swain an important person for investigators to question.
Justin Swain Becomes the Main Suspect
Police already knew Justin Swain.
He had been stopped by Danny Longstreet several times for expired registration and fake tags. During one earlier encounter, Longstreet had arrested Swain on an outstanding warrant.
Investigators therefore knew there had been tension between the two men.
Miller, however, was eventually ruled out after his wife confirmed that he had been home asleep when Longstreet was killed.
Howard then focused on Swain.
Swain Admits Taking the Plates
When police arrived at Swain’s home, he became angry and said he knew officers would try to blame him for the murder.
During a conversation with Howard, Swain admitted that he had taken Miller’s license plates.
But he claimed he had returned them to the old truck three days before Longstreet was killed.
Swain also said he had not seen Longstreet during the week of the murder.
Howard asked whether anyone could confirm his story.
Swain pointed investigators toward his girlfriend, Amanda.
But Amanda’s account created another problem.
She said that she and Swain had argued the night before the murder. She went to sleep around midnight and woke at about 5:00 a.m.
Swain was gone.
She said he did not return until about 7:30 a.m.
At that point, Swain appeared to have both a possible motive and enough time to commit the murder.
Justin Swain’s Alibi Changes the Investigation
Investigators later found information that changed the case again.
A friend confirmed that Swain had been at her house from around 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. on the morning of the murder.
Investigators also discovered that the license plates had been returned to Miller’s old truck, just as Swain had claimed.
Swain’s alibi meant investigators could no longer treat him as the answer to the case.
The strange question remained:
Why had Danny Longstreet written that license plate number on his hand before he died?
Police had to widen the investigation.
Another Suspect Emerges: Tim Askins
On March 17, police set up a checkpoint near the intersection where Longstreet had been killed.
Officers stopped passing drivers and asked whether they knew anyone who had a problem with Longstreet.
One driver eventually gave investigators another name: Tim Askins.
The driver said Askins had been involved in an incident several weeks earlier.
According to the account given to investigators, Askins had been driving drunk when he crashed his Jeep into a street sign. He then left the scene and later reported the Jeep stolen to his insurance company.
Longstreet had reportedly witnessed the crash and recognized Askins.
As a result, Askins faced felony insurance-fraud charges and Longstreet was expected to testify at his trial.
That gave investigators a possible motive.
Tim Askins Has an Alibi
When Howard spoke to Askins, he admitted that he did not like Longstreet.
But he denied having anything to do with the murder.
Askins said he had been working at a factory in a nearby town from 8:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m.
Howard contacted Askins’ employer to verify the claim.
The work records showed that Askins had been at the factory throughout the morning and had not clocked out for breaks.
For the moment, his alibi appeared to rule him out.
Investigators were once again left without a suspect who could be directly connected to the shooting.
A New Clue Changes the Case
Investigators also heard a rumor that Longstreet had been involved with another man’s wife.
There was no confirmation that the rumor was true, so police had to treat it cautiously.
Howard also considered whether Longstreet might have been mistaken for another officer. But investigators found no obvious enemies connected to the other members of the small police force.
The investigation had reached a difficult point.
Then Howard received an unexpected visitor.
A man walked into his office carrying a muddy black plastic case.
Inside was a handgun.
The man said it was the weapon used to kill Danny Longstreet.
How the Murder Was Carried Out
According to the account presented by investigators, the murder had been planned.
Shortly before 5:20 a.m., the killer was riding in the back seat of a car with two accomplices.
The killer knew Longstreet’s patrol route and knew where he would likely be at that time.
The vehicle stopped near Baker Street.
The killer put on gloves, removed a gun from a black plastic case and approached Longstreet’s patrol car from behind.
The shooter moved toward the passenger-side window and fired three times.
The killer then returned to the waiting car.
The three people drove to a dump north of town, where they buried the gun.
Afterward, the killer returned to work.
Tim Askins Is Identified as the Killer
The investigation eventually identified Tim Askins as the person who shot Danny Longstreet.
Although Askins’ work records had initially supported his alibi, his co-workers did not remember seeing him at work around the time of the murder.
Investigators also learned that Askins had recruited two relatives to help him.
They were his 18-year-old sister, Christy Fulghum, and her 17-year-old husband, Jess Fulghum.
According to the investigation, they drove Askins to the scene, picked him up afterward and helped him dispose of the weapon.
The Gun Finally Provides the Missing Evidence
The murder weapon did not belong to Askins or his relatives.
Jess and Christy had borrowed the gun from a friend several weeks earlier.
After the murder, Jess returned to the location where the gun had been buried and gave it back to the owner.
The owner noticed something important.
Three bullets were missing.
By that time, police had been telling residents that Longstreet had been shot three times.
The gun owner became concerned that his weapon could have been used in the murder.
He took the gun to police.
This finally gave investigators the physical evidence they needed to connect the weapon to the killing.
Convictions in the Danny Longstreet Case
Tim Askins was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
His brother-in-law, Jess Fulghum, was also convicted of murder and received a life sentence.
Christy Fulghum received a six-year sentence for hindering the apprehension of a suspect.
What Made the Danny Longstreet Murder Investigation So Difficult?
The case presented investigators with several misleading clues.
The License Plate
The license plate written on Longstreet’s hand appeared to point directly toward Dale Miller and then Justin Swain.
But neither ultimately proved to be the killer.
The Initial Suspects Had Motives
Both Justin Swain and Tim Askins had reasons to dislike Longstreet.
Swain had repeatedly been stopped by him and had previously been arrested by him.
Askins was facing serious charges and Longstreet was expected to testify.
But having a possible motive was not enough to prove who committed the murder.
The Alibis Delayed the Investigation
Swain appeared suspicious but later had an alibi.
Askins also appeared to have a strong alibi because his workplace records showed he was supposed to have been at work.
The investigation only moved forward after police learned that the records did not necessarily prove Askins had actually been at the factory when the murder occurred.
Conclusion
The murder of Danny Longstreet began with a quiet early-morning police shift in a small Arkansas town.
Longstreet was sitting alone in his patrol car when someone approached and shot him three times.
The investigation initially appeared to point toward Justin Swain after police discovered a license plate number written on Longstreet’s hand. But Swain’s alibi eventually forced investigators to look elsewhere.
They later learned about Tim Askins, a man facing criminal charges after an incident witnessed by Longstreet.
A second alibi appeared to rule Askins out. But investigators eventually discovered that Askins had arranged for others to help him carry out the murder and dispose of the weapon.
The borrowed handgun became the crucial physical evidence.
In the end, Tim Askins was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. The case also resulted in convictions for Jess and Christy Fulghum.
What began as a confusing license-plate clue ultimately helped investigators uncover a planned attack on a small-town police officer.