On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1934, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker ambushed and killed Texas Patrolmen H.D. Murphy and E.B. Wheeler on this rural stretch of Dove Road near Grapevine.
Dove Rd east of TX-114, Southlake, TX 76092
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public roadside marker accessible at no cost.
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Wheelchair OK
Roadside pullout next to suburban road; paved shoulder access to historical marker
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Photos OK
1934 Easter Sunday murders of Texas Highway Patrolmen Murphy and Wheeler · Barrow gang's most publicized crime in North Texas · 1996 historical marker at the site · Texas DPS officer memorial
Easter Sunday 1934 fell on April 1, and Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were parked in a field off Dove Road east of State Highway 114, near what was then the small community of Grapevine. Texas Highway Patrolmen H.D. Murphy and E.B. Wheeler were riding motorcycles on patrol when they stopped to investigate the parked car. According to witness accounts gathered by law enforcement and documented by the Southlake Historical Society, Barrow opened fire before either trooper could speak, killing both men at the roadside. Murphy was a relatively new patrol officer; Wheeler was an experienced trooper.
The Easter Sunday murders were among the most inflammatory crimes committed by the Barrow gang during their two years of armed robbery and killing across the South and Midwest. The killing of two uniformed state officers in broad daylight on a public road intensified the coordinated law enforcement response that led to the May 23, 1934 ambush in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, where Barrow and Parker were killed by law officers.
The Texas Department of Public Safety maintains an official memorial page for Patrolman H.D. Murphy that confirms the April 1, 1934 date, location, and circumstances of his death. Roadside America documents the 6-foot historical marker that was unveiled at the Dove Road site in 1996, marking the exact location of the killings. The case was also featured on an episode of 'Unsolved Mysteries,' though the murders themselves are a matter of historical record rather than open investigation.
Sources
The Dove Road murder site carries no supernatural tradition. Its place in dark tourism is grounded in documented historical record: the April 1, 1934 Easter Sunday killing of two Texas state troopers by Barrow and Parker is one of the most extensively covered events in American outlaw history, reported contemporaneously by Dallas and Fort Worth newspapers and subsequently in dozens of books, documentaries, and criminal justice records.
The Southlake Historical Society maintains detailed documentation of the event's geography, identifying Dove Road east of TX-114 as the specific location. The Texas Department of Public Safety memorial confirms Patrolman H.D. Murphy's death at this location on that date. Roadside America catalogues the 1996 historical marker, providing directional and visual documentation for visitors.
Visitors come to the site as part of a broader Bonnie and Clyde heritage circuit that includes the Grapevine Calaboose, where gang associates were detained in the immediate aftermath of the murders. The absence of ghost lore does not diminish the site's dark significance; the documented human cost and the historical weight of the event — which accelerated the federal and state pursuit that ended the gang six weeks later — give the roadside marker genuine historical gravity.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A 6-foot historical marker erected in 1996 stands on Dove Road east of TX-114, marking the location where Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow killed Texas Highway Patrolmen H.D. Murphy and E.B. Wheeler on Easter Sunday 1934. Roadside America documents the marker's location. The Texas Department of Public Safety maintains an official memorial page for Patrolman Murphy.
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