On the evening of July 30th, 1971, Mark Brotherton had been preparing to close up for the evening at Standard Oil Service Station when a customer, 23 year old Allen Munkittrick of Vermont (who at the time had been stationed with the military in Virginia), came in to see about getting service for his vehicle he had towed in by two men driving a cream-colored Volkswagen van heading west. The van also had a Budweiser sticker on the back. The men had stated to Munkittrick that they were heading to "LA", but had to make a stop into Panama City Beach before continuing in that direction. The police report wasn't clear about whether the "LA" in question was Louisiana or Los Angeles.As the service was getting set up, two black men entered the store. One had asked Munkittrick if he knew the directions to the Lake City Greyhound bus station before pulling out weapons and demanding cash from the register. At one point, one of the men had ripped the telephone from the wall.
After robbing the store, the men moved them to the service station office and shot both of them in the legs. Munkittrick would survive his wounds, but for Brotherton, the wound would be fatal. The bullet ripped through a main artery, likely killing him near-instantly.
Soon after, customers entered the store and located both men and reported the crime at a nearby station.
Investigators believe that the two men may have been local, as Interstate 10 had not been open past Lake City going west yet. It would have been fairly difficult to escape from Lake City to Jacksonville at that time, unless the suspects knew their way through Lake City and had planned the crime out. But investigators do believe that someone in the area may know something about what happened.
IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THIS CRIME, CONTACT THE COLUMBIA COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE CID, SGT. JIMMY WATSON, AT 386-758-1095.
ADDITIONALLY, TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE CRIMESTOPPERS REWARD OF UP TO $1,000, CONTACT CRIMESTOPPERS OF COLUMBIA COUNTY AT 386-754-7099. YOU WILL REMAIN ANONYMOUS.
