William Haynie Gourley, Sr.

The 1968 murder of W. Haynie Gourley, founder of Capitol Chevrolet, remains one of the most notorious unsolved crimes in Nashville history. In a summer of heated conflicts, assassinations and political turmoil around the nation, reports on the Gourley shooting consumed local news coverage. The ensuing trial gripped the local psyche as no trial had done since the shooting of Edward Carmack in 1908. Because it involved money and power and a onetime football hero, it seemed larger than life. Because it remains unsolved, it still fascinates.

In researching this story, Bob Holladay interviewed police officers, attorneys and reporters who recalled the Gourley case. His account is also based upon trial transcripts, which were reprinted, in full, in both daily papers. Members of the Gourley and Powell families refused to be interviewed.

This is a case in which friendships were betrayed, terror surfaced and a prosperous business changed hands. It was every bit as lurid as the cases of O.J. Simpson and Susan Smith. It is a story that deserves a retelling because, to this day, some Nashvillians are convinced that justice was never served.

Nashville Tennessean, April 4, 1968