Ultimate Sacrifice

Remembering the Heroes

Since the start of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, thirty-one officers have made the ultimate sacrifice and given their lives in the line of duty.

Below, you can see a brief summary concerning the death of each of those thirty-one officers, plus the only Missouri State Trooper to be killed serving his country during World War II. We list these officers and their stories so that we will never forget the sacrifices they made for the Patrol, the people of Missouri, and all who travel our highways. 

The photo depicts the Wall of Honor, the Ultimate Sacrifice, which presides over the Executive Board Room of the Missouri State Troopers Association, illuminated in blue.

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Trooper James M. Bava — Badge #162

On August 28, 2015, Trooper James M. Bava was killed in a TrooperJamesBavaone-vehicle traffic crash in Audrain County. At 8:29 a.m., Tpr. Bava radioed he observed a motorcyclist commit a traffic violation on Missouri Route FF in Audrain County ...

Trooper Frederick F. Guthrie Jr. — Badge #1322

On August 1, 2011, Trooper Frederick F. Guthrie Jr. and his Patrol TrooperFredGuthrieK-9 Reed were assigned to Missouri River flood duty. They were working in the area of Big Lake on Missouri Highway 118 at Missouri Highway 111 in Holt County, Missouri, when they were apparently swept away by swift flood water ...

Sergeant Joseph G. Schuengel — Badge #970

At approximately 11:10 a.m. on October 15, 2010, Sergeant Joseph G. Schuengel, the pilot for Troop C, Weldon Spring, was fatally injured in a helicopter crash in St. Louis County. Sgt. Schuengel was returning to the Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield, Missouri, following a traffic enforcement operation in Jefferson County when the Bell ...

Corporal Dennis E. Engelhard — Badge #355

Corporal Dennis E. Engelhard was struck by a vehicle at 10:30 a.m., on December 25, 2009. Cpl. Engelhard was completing a traffic crash investigation on westbound Interstate 44 east of Eureka, Missouri, when a driver lost control of his vehicle on the ice-covered roadway and struck him. At the time of the crash, Cpl. Engelhard ...

Trooper Donald K. “Kevin” Floyd — Badge #394

Trooper Donald K. “Kevin” Floyd was killed in the line of duty September 22, 2005. Tpr. Floyd was struck by a vehicle on U.S. Highway 60 in Texas County, approximately one mile east of Missouri Route MM, at 12:21 p.m. He was airlifted by Hammons Lifeline to St. Johns Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, where he ...

Corporal John A. “Jay” Sampietro Jr. — Badge #584

Corporal John A. “Jay” Sampietro Jr, was killed in the line of duty August 17, 2005. Corporal Sampietro was struck by a vehicle on Interstate 44 in Webster County, near Strafford, Missouri. He was taken to Cox South Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, where he succumbed to his injuries. At the time he was struck ...

Trooper Ralph C. Tatoian — Badge #1140

Trooper Ralph C. Tatoian killed in a traffic crash at 4:45 a.m. on Wednesday, April 20, 2005, on Interstate 44 in Franklin County. Tpr. Tatoian, a member of the Patrol’s Special Emergency Response Team (now known as Special Weapons and Tactics or SWAT), and other members of SERT, were responding to the Franklin County area ...

Sergeant Carl D. “Dewayne” Graham Jr. — Badge #223

Sergeant C. Dewayne Graham Jr, was killed at his residence at approximately 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 20, 2005. A passing motorist found Sgt. Graham lying on the ground near his patrol car still wearing his uniform. An autopsy revealed he had been ambushed, shot by a rifle and a shotgun. Sgt. Graham’s residence was ...

Trooper Michael L. Newton — Badge #799

Trooper Michael L. Newton was killed in a traffic crash at 6:59 a.m. on May 22, 2003. Tpr. Newton had stopped a vehicle on eastbound Interstate 70 near the 47-mile marker in Lafayette County. While Tpr. Newton and the person he had stopped were sitting in his patrol car, they were struck by a pickup ...

Trooper Kelly L. Poynter — Badge #1191

Trooper Kelly L. Poynter was killed on January 18, 2002, while working a traffic crash on U.S. Highway 63 in Texas County, two miles south of Houston, Missouri. While Tpr. Poynter was investigating the initial crash, another vehicle struck and killed him, and injured a wrecker driver. The driver of the vehicle that struck Tpr ...

Sergeant Robert A. Guilliams — Badge #235

Sergeant Robert A. Guilliams was killed in a traffic crash on February 16, 2001. Sgt. Guilliams was responding to a previous traffic crash when he lost control of his patrol car on southbound Interstate 55 in Pemiscot County approximately 16 miles north of the Arkansas line. Sgt. Guilliams’ patrol car slid off the rain-soaked roadway ...

Sergeant Robert G. Kimberling — Badge #511

Sergeant Robert G. Kimberling was shot and killed on October 6, 1999, on Interstate 29, in St. Joseph, Missouri, in Buchanan County. The incident occurred after Sgt. Kimberling stopped a motorist who had left the Farris Truck Stop in Faucett, Missouri, without paying for $24.69 of fuel. The driver, Jason M. Friske of Madison, Wisconsin ...

Sergeant David C. May — Badge #873

Sergeant David C. May was killed in a helicopter crash on May 17, 1999, in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, in Butler County. Sgt. May was piloting the Patrol’s helicopter 77MP and died upon impact. The helicopter crashed behind the Union Planter’s Bank after Sgt. May diverted the stricken helicopter away from homes, businesses, and pedestrians in ...

Sergeant Randy V. Sullivan — Badge #821

Sergeant Randy V. Sullivan was killed in a traffic crash on February 17, 1996, on Missouri Highway 72 in Madison County, eight miles west of Fredericktown, Missouri. The crash occurred when Sgt. Sullivan checked a vehicle exceeding the speed limit by radar, turned around to overtake the violator, and, as he came over a hill ...

Corporal Michael E. Webster — Badge #473

Corporal Michael E. Webster died October 2, 1993, from injuries suffered when he was struck by a drunk driver on U.S. Highway 40 in Blue Springs, Missouri, in Jackson County. Cpl. Webster had stopped a vehicle at 3:05 a.m. on October 2, for a license violation and was talking with the driver on the ...

Trooper Robert J. Kolilis — Badge #353

Trooper Robert J. Kolilis died on September 21, 1988, as a result of injuries sustained when he was struck by a pickup truck on Missouri Route M in Washington County near Irondale, Missouri. The traffic crash occurred at approximately 7:30 p.m. Two vehicles were stopped along the two lane road with one vehicle parked approximately …

Corporal Henry C. Bruns — Badge #169

Corporal Henry C. Bruns was killed in a traffic crash on February 16, 1987. Cpl. Bruns was killed when the vehicle in which he was a passenger skidded on ice covered Missouri Highway 6 in Buchanan County and hit a bridge abutment. Corporal Henry C. Bruns, 41, was the 15th member of the Patrol to …

Trooper Russell W. Harper — Badge #670

Trooper Russell W. Harper was shot and killed February 8, 1987, after he pulled over a pick-up truck being driven by Glennon P. Sweet for a traffic violation. The traffic stop occurred east of U.S. Highway 65 and U.S. Highway 60 near Farm Route 189 in Greene County. Before Tpr. Harper could stop his patrol …

Trooper Jimmie E. Linegar — Badge #865

Just six weeks after the death of Trooper James M. Froemsdorf, the Patrol was again struck with tragedy when Trooper Jimmie E. Linegar, 31, was shot to death on April 15, 1985, at the intersection of U.S. Highway 65 and Missouri Highway 86 south of Branson, Missouri, in Taney County. Tpr. Linegar and Trooper Allen …

Trooper James M. Froemsdorf — Badge #261

Trooper James M. Froemsdorf, 35, was shot and killed with his own gun on March 2, 1985, on Interstate 55, near Brewer, Missouri, in Perry County. Tpr. Froemsdorf had stopped Jerome Mallett for exceeding the speed limit, and a radio check revealed Mallett to be wanted for armed robbery in Texas. Tpr. Froemsdorf had handcuffed …

Trooper Dennis H. Marriott — Badge #804

Trooper Dennis H. Marriott died June 13, 1981, from injuries suffered on June 1, 1981, when he was struck by a vehicle. He had exited his patrol car for a traffic stop. The traffic crash occurred on U.S. Highway 54 south in Jefferson City, Missouri, in Cole County. Tpr. Mariott died from his injuries at …

Trooper Gary W. Snodgrass — Badge #732

Trooper Gary W. Snodgrass, 24, was killed in a traffic crash on February 21, 1970. The crash occurred on Missouri Highway 32, seven miles east of Salem, Missouri, in Dent County. There were no known witnesses to the one-car crash, but the trooper apparently lost control of his patrol car on a curve. Trooper Gary …

Trooper John N. Greim — Badge #148

On the morning of July 13, 1945, a trooper attempted a traffic stop, which became a pursuit. Officers in the area converged in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The result: A blue Mercury sedan traveled onto gravel roads from Campbell, Missouri, into Arkansas. Tpr. Greim suggested he obtain a plane to assist with the …

Trooper Ross S. Creach — Badge #58

On Sunday, December 12, 1943, two days before his first anniversary on the Patrol, Tpr. Creach was directing traffic as a trucking company attempted to remove a trailer from the ditch on U.S. Highway 36, five and one-half miles west of Shelbina, Missouri, in Shelby County. The trailer had been pulled from the ditch and …

Trooper Charles P. Corbin — Badge #99

On September 15, 1943, Trooper Charles P. Corbin was on patrol accompanied by Public Service Commission Inspector Ed Bilyeau north of Carthage on U.S. Highway 71 when a transport truck and trailer traveling on the wrong side of the roadway struck his patrol car. Tpr. Corbin met the truck on a bridge as the truck …

Trooper Victor O. Dosing — Badge #22

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, as the world moved closer to the astonishing news of the Pearl Harbor attack, Trooper Victor O. Dosing and Trooper Sam Graham responded to the Coffee Pot Cafe one mile south of Galloway, Missouri, near Springfield, Missouri, to apprehend a murder suspect. The coffee pot shaped building had an apartment …

Trooper Fred L. Walker — Badge #126

Trooper Fred L. Walker, 33, was shot on December 3, 1941, near Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Tpr. Walker stopped a newer model car near Bloomsdale in St. Genevieve County. Unbeknownst to him, the vehicle had been stolen near Bonne Terre. The occupants of the car, George Alvin King, 17, and Norman Votaw, 20, both of Centralia, …

Sergeant Benjamin O. Booth — Badge #13

Sergeant Benjamin O. Booth, an original member of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, was fatally shot on June 14,1933. After a bank in Mexico, Missouri, was robbed, roadblocks were set up to catch the perpetrators. Sgt. Booth was called to work on his day off to man a roadblock at the intersection of U.S. Highway 40 …