The Last Ride: Murder, Money, and the Sensational Trial that Captivated Nashville

by Martha Smith Tate

The Last Ride is the first book ever written about the murder of prominent Nashville citizen W. Haynie Gourley on May 24, 1968, and the heart-stopping, controversial trial that riveted the city of Nashville, Tennessee, and caused a sensation during the summer of 1969. Set primarily amid the racial turmoil following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, the book traces the circumstances leading up to the killing of the popular, self-made millionaire Chevrolet dealer, the extensive manhunt and police investigation, and the improbable grand jury i ndictment of a popular former college football star. The work follows the life of Haynie Gourley, from before an unspeakable tragedy at age eight leads to a lonely, impoverished childhood i n Cross Plains, Tennessee, to his 1915 arrival as a teenager in Nashville where he takes a job as an itinerant salesman of men's made-to-order suits, to his months in the trenches of France during WWI, to his prominence in the city's automobile industry, and his rise in the society of wealthy Belle Meade, becoming a member of the exclusive Belle Meade Country Club. The story is told against the backdrop of the founding and growth of Nashville, the nascent Civil Rights movement, the racial climate at Vanderbilt University during the still-segregated 1960s, along with the social history of the charmed Gourley family. The story centers around the events of the morning of May 24, 1968. Haynie Gourley, owner and founder of a successful automobile dealership, Capitol Chevrolet Company, agrees to go for a ride with his forty-year-old business partner. The two return to the dealership 15 minutes later. Haynie, 72, is dead of three gunshot wounds - one just below the left ear, a second to the neck, and a third to the chest. The shocking murder of a much-beloved citizen sets off a year of Where is the mysterious Black killer who vanished after jumping into the back seat of Haynie's car as he rode down Elm Hill Pike with his business partner? The murder occurred just as Haynie was about to realize his dream of having his only son take over and run his lucrative business. The t iming of the murder is immediately suspicious, and the ownership of one of the most lucrative car dealerships in the South is in doubt. For the first time ever, the author pieces together the events and evidence that bring into question the outcome of this notorious case. The two families involved kept silent for 50 years, refusing pleas by journalists and authors hoping to write about the murder and trial. Haunted by memories of sitting through the nail-biting trial where Tennessee's legendary legal giants faced off in a tense courtroom drama, the author spent three years interviewing those involved who still survive and carefully studying the 2,400-page transcript and delving into countless news stories about the crime. This was Nashville's most publicized trial ever, covered obsessively by local broadcast TV stations and the two daily newspapers, the Nashville Banner and The Tennessean . Both papers printed the entire transcript of the trial as it happened. Even today, the story still fascinates. After reading this true-crime story, one is left to wonder whether or not justice was served in the end.

Hardcover

Published October 4, 2022

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reads like a real-life Perry Mason episode with one exception. Perry Mason would never defend a guilty person. I wish the author had interviewed some of the jurors and asked them what the hell were they thinking.

[Tommye · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a native Nashvillian, I had heard about this murder most of my life. It was a simple Bill Powell was acquitted of the murder of Haynie Gourley, but he did it. I enjoyed the perspective of several people that contributed to book as I know or knew them personally. I don’t recall them discussing this case either, until this book. After reading this book, I feel there was a total miscarriage of justice. The comment that explains it for me was made by Powell’s mother-in-law!

[Tracy Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea this happened in Nashville to the grandfather of one of our friends until a couple of years ago. This is a compelling story of a family devastated by this senseless killing.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am saddened that the Gourley family did not receive Justice in the courtroom concerning the murder of patriarch, W. Haynie Gourley, owner of an extremely successful Chevrolet dealership he built from the ground up over 36 years in Nashville, TN. Witnesses for the defense flat out lied on the stand, including the accused. The judge allowed the defense attorneys to question and badger prosecution witnesses for hours about details that did not even remotely relate to the case.

The prosecuting attorneys failed in many areas, sitting silently when they could have objected to many of the defense attorneys’ antics.

The murder took place on May 24, 1968. The author was college friends at Vanderbilt with the victim’s son, Billy Gourley. She attended the trial. In 2018 when the 50th anniversary of the murder approached, the author got in touch with Billy Gourley asking if he would be willing to break his 50 years of silence on the verdict. This excellent book is the result.

[Anne Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The author is an accomplished writer which kept this book in the "above average" category. I loved the historical background of mid-century Nashville and the details from the trial but I did think it was told more from the prosecution point of view instead of the defense - or even a neutral position. It would have been interesting to hear from the jurors to find out how and why they voted as they did.

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great glimpse into post war Nashville through a horrific crime. I guess there was no civil trial path then? Seems like that would have been an easy win. I get the trial was important/key to the story, but the detail there wore on me. Blown away by the economics of the buyout. They got hosed on that forced sale. Criminal.

[Mark Bunch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Nashville TN history must read. How a couple of Nashville big wigs profited from a famous unsolved murder. This one is in the vein of the Jimmy Hoffa case. Three guys go to a meeting-a carjacking takes place and a company is lost and gained. This jettisoned the careers of several well-known businesspeople.

[Judy Masters · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Last Ride was a good history of Nashville's elite during the late 60's and 70's. The trial would make a great movie. Sadly, the white young attractive man can get away with murder, not a spoiler, you know it from the beginning.

[Kristi Amdur · Rating 5 out of 5]

A juicy true crime murder. There are shocking and unfortunate details throughout which make you question how it’s going to end, and then it ends with yet another shocker. A page turner for sure.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

So well written and engaging. Such a sad yet fascinating story.