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Mail truck driver murdered

$100,000 reward offered for information leading to arrest

By Katie Cole (Contact) | Alex City Outlook

Published Monday, October 5, 2009

Looking for leads in the case

The United States Postal Service is offering up to $100,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible for postal worker Tony Harrelson’s death on Oct. 2.

If you have information about the crime, call any of the following hotlines:

U.S. Postal Inspection Service hotline 1-877-876-2455

Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Department (256) 825-4264

Secret Witness Number (256) 827-2035

The United States Postal Service is offering up to $100,000 in reward money for information about the murder of a contract truck driver at the Camp Hill post office on Friday evening.

Tony Harrelson, 46, a postal service contract worker from Dadeville, was shot and killed at the Camp Hill post office between 5:45 and 6:15 p.m. on Oct. 2. A 911 call alerted officials to the shooting.

“We need witnesses to come forward who were in the Camp Hill area at the time or days prior to the (shooting) who may have noticed any type of suspicious activity in the area,” said Yulanda Burns, a United States Postal inspector and public information officer.

The reward is also eligible for information about anyone who was an accessory to the crime, for conspiracy to commit the crime and for receiving or having unlawful possession of any property secured during the crime.

Burns encouraged anyone with information about the crime to contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service or the Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Department.

Burns said they have been investigating the shooting since Friday night and they have several leads, which she declined to release because of the ongoing investigation. Harrelson was on duty at the time of the shooting, but Burns would not say where in the building the crime occurred or a possible motive for the crime.

“We have leads that we are following,” Burns said. “I can’t say if something was taken or not or the motive.”

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is investigating the crime with the Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Department, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and the Camp Hill Police Department.

Harrelson is survived by his wife, Dinah Kaye Pike Harrelson; two sons, Richard Brandon Crain and Dustin Pritchard; and four daughters, Amy Meadors and her husband Jeremie, Jennifer Hendricks, Brittany Mims and her husband C.J., and Jessie Harrelson. Harrelson’s funeral is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m. at the chapel at Bass Funeral Home in Alexander City. The family will receive visitors today from 5 to 8 p.m. at Bass Funeral Home.

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