Unsolved, but not forgotten

Katie Stallcup
Staff writer
Published: July 21, 2008

Vasha Hunt | Opelika-Auburn News
Jackie Salmon recalls the unsolved 2005 murder of her husband.

Three years ago, Jackie Salmon called her husband at his gas station. Halfway through the conversation, the line went dead. Later that day, she found out he had been shot to death. And she still doesn’t know who did it.

Dick Salmon, 72, was found July 22, 2005 in his SACO gas station on Opelika Road in Auburn.

Today, the gas station sits dormant, its pumps empty and its lights dark. The bells Salmon used to ring when Auburn scored a touchdown are silent.

The station has had fits and starts of operation since Salmon’s death, but nothing stuck.

In an era of segregation, Salmon treated all customers as equals, Jackie Salmon said.

“When we opened up that station, I think we were probably the only station around that didn’t have black and white bathrooms and fountains,” Jackie Salmon said. “We had a women’s room and a men’s room. We had one water fountain for everybody.”

Salmon was a popular figure in the community.

“They’d tell me that he had a reputation — if you need anything, go see Mr. Dick at SACO,” she said. “He wasn’t out there to try to impress people or anything. He was just a good guy that tried to do what he thought Jesus would do.”

Jackie Salmon still can’t talk about her husband’s death without crying.

“I’m not over it,” she said. “… I pray that (the shooter) will be saved. And if he gets saved, he’ll confess. And I can’t believe that he’s the only one who knows who did it.”

Police haven’t forgotten about the case, Auburn police Assistant Chief Tommy Dawson said Monday.

“Not a week goes by we don’t talk about the case and how we can solve it,” Dawson said. “We’re still checking new leads…. It really bothers us that this case has gone unsolved.”

The police ask anyone who knows anything to come forward, and a $45,000 reward is being offered by friends and Salmon’s estate.

Dawson said he and investigators haven’t given up hope.

“I think there’s a good chance at this point of making an arrest,” Dawson said. “… Our thoughts and prayers are with the Salmon family. We have not forgotten the pain they went through and the pain that they’re still going through. We hope to bring some type of closure, if there could be such a thing, by making an arrest.”