In the quiet expanse of 1973, Kentucky was shaken by a chilling crime spree that started in Lexington and cast a long shadow over Falmouth. It began with the gruesome murders of Reverend John Barnes and his two children, Francine and John E. Barnes, at their home in Lexington. The perpetrators, William Sloan and Wilmer Scott, had escaped from prison and embarked on a violent rampage that would haunt the region for years to come.
After the heinous act in Lexington, Sloan and Scott fled in the Barnes family car, making their way to the unsuspecting town of Falmouth. There, they committed another atrocity: the murder of three men at a Fisher’s Motel . This chilling sequence of events sent shockwaves through the small community.
The Falmouth murders, part of a larger spree that claimed multiple lives, remain one of the darkest chapters in the town’s history. The sheer brutality and randomness of the crimes left the community reeling, a stark reminder of the fragility of peace in even the most serene places.
Though justice was eventually served, with Sloan and Scott apprehended and convicted, the scars of that fateful year linger.
The Barnes family and the Falmouth victims are remembered as part of the town’s narrative, a somber tale of loss and a testament to the community’s resilience in the face of unimaginable tragedy.