A man was eventually arrested who matched this profile and who had implied to witnesses he was the sniper, but no charges related to the shootings were ever brought against him.
About five months earlier, while exiting a local Kroger supermarket, Randy Burgess was shot twice in the chest sniper-style and died the next day.
In October 2003, a joint task force investigating the shootings announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the killer.
At some time before the three successive murders, the witness's younger brother had stolen an automobile engine belonging to Lester that had a large quantity of methamphetamine hidden inside.
He suggested that two victims were chosen randomly to throw suspicion off the gang for killing its intended target, Jeanie Patton.
The property of a woman believed to have sheltered Lester and his gang was excavated to search for the pickup truck used in at least two of the murders and for bodies of possible further victims.
Later, Lester was sentenced to an additional 6 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to firearms possession charges.