11 Officers From Area Die on Job

Trooper First Class Larry G. Hacker’s portrait now hangs in the West Virginia State Police Hall of Honor. A total of 35 state police officers died in the line of duty since that agency was formed In June 1919.

Eleven law enforcement officers from the Mid-Ohio Valley area have died in the line of duty.

Mason County Sheriff Pete Wedge and two deputies, Deputy Kenneth Lowe and Chief Deputy Ernest Hesson, were killed in an explosion at the Mason County jail in March 1976.

According to Mason County Jail Administrator Boyd Akers, who was a state police trooper at the time of the explosion, said a man went to the jail with a sawed-off shotgun and a suitcase and demanded to see his wife who was arrested for allegedly killing their baby.

While the man visited his wife, police officers talked to him and tried to coax him out through another female inmate. After much persuasion the man finally agreed to let the female liaison leave, Akers said.

"She was told we had to have the building cleared by morning, or we'd be sorry," Akers said.

"As we escorted the freed female inmate upstairs, the man's wife started hollering," Akers said. "We went back and that's when it went off."

Akers said there was about 34 sticks of dynamite in the suitcase.

The sheriff, two deputies, the man and woman died in the blast that destroyed two of three floors at the jail. Akers and some other inmates were injured.

Later that year in Calhoun County, Sheriff Park Richards was killed while attempting to serve a lunancy warrant.

Calhoun County Magistrate Charles McDonald, who was a state police trooper at the time, had accompanied the sheriff to execute the warrant. The suspect apparantly threatened to kill a nearby neighbor. MacDonald said.

"The man lived in a rock-cliff type cave," McDonald said.

The two walked a couple hundred yards to where the man was located. The man, described by McDonald as a mid-1970s, hippy-hermit type who lived off the land, held the officers at bay with a high-powered rifle.

"He opened fire and we returned fire," MacDonald said. The officers and the gunman stood about 25 feet apart, he said.

"The sheriff was killed on the scene," McDonald said. The man also died.

McDonald said there was an FBI investigation and a grand jury found the killing of the man 'justifiable homicide.'

In Ohio, five Washington County officers died in the line of duty.

> Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Rodney K. Kinzy died April 17, 1990 during a mutual aid response in Noble County. Kinzy was with a group of officers from Southeast Ohio trying to apprehend Robert Dale Egnot who barricaded himself ins barn and was shooting at police officers. Kinzy, standing beneath a street light, was shot once in the head and died where he fell.
Egnot refused to leave the barn and officers set fire to the structure. Egnot died in the blaze.

> Charles Scott Jr. of the Marietta Police Department died Jan.12, 1989 of a heart attack in Marietta Municipal Cowt just before he was to be questioned by a defense attorney on the results of a breath-alcohol test. Marietta Police Chief Roger Phillis said Scott also had suffered a heart attack years prior the fatal attack.

>Washington County Deputy Ray Joe Clark died Feb. 7, 1981 at his home. Apparently, Clark was killed by a gunshot through his kitchen window. It is speculated the crime was related to a drug investigation which involved Clark, however no motive has been confirmed and the case remains to be an unsolved homicide.

> Washington County Deputy Charley Ross died Oct. 4,1947 while answering a domestic violence call. He was shot and killed.

> Marietta Police Officer Harrison L. Boyd died Jan. 11, 1925.
According to Chief Phillis, Boyd was on foot patrol when he came upon two men breaking into a grocery store. Boyd stepped under a street light and engaged ins gunfight.
Phillis said Boyd's pistol jammed and he was killed. The two suspects were apprehended and imprisoned. Recently in Columbus, the Ohio State Highway Patrol held a memorial service for those state patrolmen who died in the line of duty. Two of the 32 officers remembered were from the Mid-Ohio Valley.

> Trooper Jody S. Dye, who's hometown was Ravenswood, died July 5, 1985.
Dye was patrolling Interstate 270 during a heavy rainfall when he was fatally struck at the U.S. 33 interchange in Columbus. He was placing fuses on the road to warn approaching traffic of a crash scene. Dye was stationed at the Granville post.

> Trooper Wendy G. Everett, who's hometown was Parkersburg. died Aug. 5, 1988.
Everett, the first female trooper to die, was outside her patrol car completing a criminal investigation on Interstate 270 at U.S. 62 in Franklin County when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver. She died hours later of injuries sustained in the accident. Everett was a member of the Circleville post.