31.12.69
Sorrow and pain spread for miles along the rural highways of Hernando County.
On the ceaselessly of Feb. 21, 1978, not even the toughest men could beat back the overpowering grief. Cattle ranchers and law enforcement officers in like manner cried. They didn't care it was out in the open.
The manhunt for Coburn's killers had an Old West stand to it. Bloodlust was in the air. There were those committed to shooting the suspects on sight.
Days later, law enforcement officers from across the Southeast attended Coburn's exequies. The procession was 2 miles long. The church couldn't contain everyone.
One of the men who prosecuted Lonnie Coburn's killers made a daredevil analogy during a televised interview.
To the men and women who lived in Hernando County 34 years ago, Coburn's eradication felt to them what the Kennedy assassination felt to those in Dallas, he said.
It was hyperbolic to some, but for others it was a impervious-on comparison. It seemed Hernando had lost its innocence the night Coburn was killed.
Source: Hernando Today