‘48 Hours’ to air episode tonight on murder of Belfast’s Sonny Grotton

CBS will air a “48 Hours” episode at 10 p.m. tonight about the investigation into the December 1983 murder of Belfast’s Mervin “Sonny” Grotton, a U.S. Navy chief petty officer.

“The Sting” focuses on the shooting of Grotton behind a wood pile in his yard that was unsolved for 17 years. Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Jeff Morrow and undercover agent David Truesdale were integral in solving the case. Norma Small, Grotton’s wife at the time, was found guilty of the contract killing in 2002 and sentenced to 70 years in prison, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Small, who was arrested in 2001 at her home in Gas, Kansas, was accused of hiring Joel Fuller to kill her husband. She received more than $180,000 life insurance and service benefits before her conviction.

Fuller was acquitted but was serving life sentences for two unrelated murders. A third man indicted in the case, Boyd Smith, was acquitted of murder in 2002.

Parts of the episode were filmed in Belfast last summer.

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