He was a 27-year-old truck driver from Kansas City who hauled automotive parts from Detroit to Oklahoma City. He was married and had infant twin daughters.
On November 12, 1988, McCorkendale was shot once in the back at point-blank range with a 12-gauge shotgun. The shooting occurred near the public payphones at the Chandler rest area on the Turner Turnpike in Oklahoma.
The killers took McCorkendale's truck keys and his leather wallet. The robbery netted approximately $25, while loose coins were left scattered on the ground.
Other truck drivers reported being harassed by an older, brown Ford Pinto with Oklahoma plates and a long CB radio antenna. The occupants—a young white male, a young Black male, and a young white woman—boasted over the CB radio about what they had done to another trucker.
Investigators theorize the suspects were patrolling the turnpike and monitoring trucker frequencies on their CB radio. They believe McCorkendale may have announced his plan to stop at the Chandler payphones, unwittingly alerting the killers to his location.