Cuhuatemoc Hinricky Peraita, born May 19, 1976, was a teenager when he participated in the Popeyes restaurant murders alongside Melson. He was only 17 at the time and had no publicly documented criminal history before the incident. Following his conviction, Peraita was sent to prison for life without parole but later drew national attention after committing another murder behind bars. While imprisoned, Peraita killed a fellow inmate in 1999, a crime that would ultimately earn him a death sentence.

Robert Bryant Melson was born on June 5, 1971. Very little is publicly known about his childhood or early adult life prior to the events that led to his death sentence. He resided in Alabama and, at the time of his crime, was reportedly unemployed and had a criminal record. His past did not indicate a known history of severe violence, but the brutality of the murders he later committed shocked the Gadsden, Alabama community.

Both men were known to have entered the restaurant through a back door with intent to rob, but the level of violence they used—executing compliant employees after they had handed over the money—signaled the case’s severity and cruelty.

On the night of April 15, 1994, employees at a Popeyes restaurant in Gadsden, Alabama were closing for the evening. Around midnight, as employees Nathaniel Baker, Bryant Archer, and Darrell K. Collier took out the trash, a fellow worker, Tamika Collins, remained inside. Unknown to them, Melson and Peraita had planned a robbery. When Collier unlocked the back door to let his co-workers back inside, Melson and Peraita entered the restaurant, armed and prepared.

They herded the four employees into the manager’s office and forced them to empty the safe, stealing more than $2,100. The robbers then forced all four employees into the walk-in freezer. After locking them inside, Melson reopened the freezer door and began shooting each of them execution-style.

Three of the victims—Nathaniel Baker, Darrell Collier, and Tamika Collins—died from their gunshot wounds before emergency help could arrive. The fourth victim, Bryant Archer, was shot four times but miraculously survived. Despite critical injuries, Archer managed to crawl to the office phone and call 911, providing police with a crucial lead.

Melson and Peraita were arrested shortly after the attack. Their joint trial ended in 1996 with Melson sentenced to death on May 17, 1996, and Peraita sentenced to life without parole on March 15, 1996.

On December 11, 1999, while serving his life sentence, Peraita murdered another inmate inside prison. He stabbed the man to death, and in October 2001, he received a second conviction—this time a death sentence—for the prison murder.

Robert Melson, meanwhile, spent over 20 years on death row. His execution was originally set for 2010, but multiple stays delayed the process. In April 2017, Alabama scheduled his final execution for June 8, 2017. Although a temporary stay was granted by the U.S. Supreme Court that evening to review appeals, the stay was lifted later that same night. At 9:55 p.m., Melson was executed by lethal injection at Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama. He was pronounced dead at 10:27 p.m. Melson made no final statement before his death.

Cuhuatemoc Peraita remains on death row in Alabama as of 2025, convicted of two separate killings—one during a robbery and one in prison.