On December 1, 1974, Alice Police Department Officer Matthew Murphy was shot after stopping a vehicle at West Main Street and U.S. Highway 281 in Alice, Texas. Several minutes after the initial stop, another officer found Murphy suffering from gunshot wounds. Murphy was transported to a local hospital where he later died.

Witnesses described a two-door car leaving the area of the shooting. Responding officers were unable to locate the vehicle after it left the scene.

On May 10, 2019, the 79th Judicial District Grand Jury, returned an indictment for Capital Murder on Roberto Lopez, 71. This followed an extensive reinvestigation of this crime by the Texas Rangers and the Alice Police Department. Lopez is currently serving a sentence of life without parole, for an unrelated offense, in the Alabama Department Of Corrections.

UPDATE: On July 21, 2020, the Alabama Department of Corrections reported that Roberto Lopez died of natural causes, while incarcerated in an Alabama state prison.

The investigation into the murder of Officer Matthew Murphy is now closed.