 Rodgers eventually became involved in armed robbery, spending over twenty years in incarceration at various prisons.In 1957, Rodgers came from New Mexico to work as a part-time security guard with the Continental Uranium Company at its Rattlesnake uranium mine near La Sal, Utah.Following an altercation on June 19 of that year, James W. Rodgers shot miner Charles Merrifield, who died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head, arm, and torso.