Robert Eugene Ake, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Trooper Ake, 28, apparently had stopped a vehicle near NE 36th and Westminster, in far NE Oklahoma City, shortly before 10 P.M., Monday, September 18, 1972. Soon afterwards Ake was found lying shot in front of his patrol unit with his service revolver missing. Ake was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. Trooper Ake had not radioed in any information on the vehicle or its occupants and no witnesses were immediately found. Seven months later Jerry Cudjo, 19, was arrested with the Trooper’s revolver. Cudjo was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison. Ake served as an Alva Police Officer before becoming a Trooper and was survived by his wife Donna and two sons, 4 year old Steven and 22 month old Richard.

Rondal Ray Alexander ,Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Trooper Alexander, 34, and U S Army Military Police Officer Ronald D Russell were observers in a Cessna 182 single engine aircraft, piloted by OHP Trooper Richard Oldaker, being used as a traffic spotter aircraft on July 3, 1978. Sometime between 10 A.M. and 3 P.M. that day, the aircraft crashed about three miles west of the Salt Fork River in Harman County, near the Texas border, killing all three officers. Alexander had a wife and five year old son.

John Richard Barter , Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Trooper Barter, 31, turned on to a county road off of U. S. Highway 62 about three miles west of Altus to investigate several shots he had heard about 4:30 P.M. on January 23, 1959. Barter drove upon a man and a woman setting in a car. When Barter went to arrest the man, Ray Allen Young, 29, for being a parolee in possession of a gun, Young shot and killed the trooper with a .32 caliber pistol. Young and the woman, a prostitute named Bernice Scott, were later apprehended and convicted of Barter’s murder. Young died in Oklahoma’s electric chair on December 15, 1960 becoming the only man executed for killing an OHP Trooper. Scott was sentenced to life in prison and was paroled in 1975. A wife and three sons survived trooper Barter.

Travis Leon Bench, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Trooper Bench stopped Charles Enoch Brown for a traffic violation about 10:30 A.M. on October 5, 1983, on Highway 97 one mile north of the Sapulpa exit of the Turner Turnpike. When Bench attempted to arrest Brown for driving with a suspended drivers license Brown broke loose, ran to his car, retrieved a .44 Magnum pistol and shot Trooper Bench in the head. Brown escaped and Bench died shortly after noon in a Tulsa hospital Bench had a wife and four-month old daughter.

Theo Cobb, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

The early morning hours of Sunday, June 24, 1951 Troopers Cobb and Charles Branch were finishing up their investigation of a traffic accident on Highway 76 two miles north of Fox in Carter County. Trooper Cobb stepped out form behind a wrecker and saw a car approaching at a high rate of speed and tried to slow it down by waving his flashlight at the driver. The speeding car struck Cobb knocking him 57 feet. The car sped away without stopping. Trooper Cobb, 43, died approximately three hours later at 5:45 A.M. in the Hardy Sanitarium in Ardmore. Cobb’s wife Julia, a son and two daughters survived him.

Larry Verne Crabtree, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

About 5 P.M. on Monday, April 4, 1977, Trooper Crabtree, 43, stopped a Red Volkswagon with Missouri plates three miles west of Bristow on the Turner Turnpike. As he approached the driver’s side of the vehicle, he was shot once in the chest with a .410 shotgun and died almost instantly. The red vehicle left but was soon stopped 13 miles down the turnpike. Five persons were taken into custody however only a Missouri runaway named Monte Lee Eddings, 16, was charged with the murder as an adult. Eddings was convicted and sentenced to death but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. A wife and three sons survived Trooper Crabtree.

Howard M Crumley, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Shortly before midnight, Sunday, June 28, 1970, Trooper Crumley was found dead about three miles west of Lone Grove on Highway 70. Crumley had been shot twice with his own revolver. It is believed that Trooper Crumley, 35, had been working radar and stopped the Wilkenson brothers, Ray and Hubert, after they had robbed and murdered a 75-year-old man in Comanche County. Trooper Crumley left behind a wife and three sons

David Warner "Rocky" Eales, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

About 12:30 A.M. Friday, September 24, 1999, Trooper Eales, 49, and his tactical team partner Trooper John “Buddy” Hamilton, 39, were in a Ford Bronco, the lead vehicle of several law enforcement vehicles which converged on the shanty of Kenneth Eugene Barrett, 38, about five miles northwest of Sallisaw, with an arrest warrant for Barrett and a search warrant. As Eales stopped the Bronco in front of the shack and prepared to exit the vehicle Barrett stepped on to his front porch and sprayed gunfire from an AR-15 assault rifle. One of the bullets hit Eales under his right armpit, traveled across his chest and exited out his left side. Hamilton was hit in the eye and shoulder with fragments from glass and/or bullets. Other officers in the caravan opened fire on Barrett wounding him. Trooper Eales died en route to the hospital. Eales was survived by his wife Kelli, a young son and a daughter.
Barrett was convicted of first-degree manslaughter in his second state trial after the first trial ended in a mistrial. He was sentenced to 30 years in the state prison.  In Barrett’s federal trial for intentionally killing a law enforcement officer during the commission of a drug trafficking crime and related weapons charges, he was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death.

Edward Allen Elliott, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Thursday night, August 24, 1980, Trooper Elliott, 42, and his partner, Trooper Tom Flanagan, stopped a semi-truck pulling a lowboy trailer for speeding on the H. E. Baily Turnpike, eight miles north of Elgin. The troopers and the truck driver, John S. Carr, were standing between the patrol unit and the lowboy trailer when a car driven by David J. Laase ran into the back of the patrol unit at about 55 mph. Trooper Flanagan and Carr were knocked onto the lowboy trailer and sustained minor injuries. Trooper Elliott was knocked under the trailer, sustaining fatal internal injuries. Laase was charged with negligent homicide. His wife, Wanda, a son and two stepdaughters survived Trooper Elliott.

Matthew Scott Evans, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

About 3 A.M. on Thursday, August 31, 2000, Trooper Evans, 24, was west bound on I-40 in the inside lane starting to pass a semi-tractor truck and trailer near Pennsylvania Ave. in Oklahoma City, responding to another Trooper’s call for assistance. At that moment a Pontiac Firebird speeding east bound in the west bound lanes of I-40 was being pursued by Oklahoma City Police Officer Jeffery D Rominger. The Firebird went around the semi-truck on its left side, clipped the front left corner of the truck and hit Trooper Evans’ patrol unit head-on. Officer Rominger, close behind the Firebird, collided with the other two vehicles, which had burst into flames. Trooper Evans and the two people in the Firebird died at the scene. Officer Rominger died shortly after arriving at University Hospital. Trooper Evans was survived by his wife, Jennifer.

George Calvin Green, Jr., Captain

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Captain Green, 56, was involved in an on duty accident involving a dump truck just off the Turner Turnpike near Sapulpa on Monday afternoon October 25th, 2010.  Investigators are still gathering information, but early signs indicate Captain Green's view was blocked by a truck-trailer and he unknowingly turned his patrol car into the path of a dump truck.  Captain Green suffered multiple injuries and passed away from his injuries the following afternoon about 3:30 P.M. Captain Green is survived by his wife and children.  He was to have retired in 6 months.

Nikky Joe Green, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

About 6:30 A.M. Friday, December 26, 2003, Trooper Green, 35, stopped to assist what he thought was a disabled vehicle on a rural Cotton County road about a mile from US 70 north of Devol, about five miles north of the Texas state line. Trooper Green soon discovered that the car was a mobile meth lab. When Trooper Green attempted to arrest the driver, a struggle ensued and Trooper Green lost control of his weapon. Trooper Green was shot in the head, killing him. His wife Linda and three young daughters survive Trooper Green.
Ricky Ray Malone was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death for the first degree murder of Trooper Green.

James Pat Grimes, Second Lieutenant

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

On Friday morning, May 26, 1978, the nation wide search for two escaped convicts, Claude Eugene Dennis, 35, and Michael Charles Lancaster, 25, centered around Lake Texhoma. The pair had escaped from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester thirty-four days earlier. Since then the pair had engaged in a crime spree that covered 1,000 miles from Oklahoma to Alabama and included seven murders. They also had wounded a police officer in Alabama. Highway Patrol (OHP) Troopers were sent from all over Oklahoma to assist in the search. That morning a farmer in Kenefic reported that two heavily armed men tied him up and stole his pickup truck. The description of the pickup was broadcast to all units in the area. OHP Troopers Houston F. “Pappy” Summers, 62, and Billy Gene Young, 50, located the pickup on Highway 48 eight miles north of Durant and pursued it north to near Kenefic. The pickup finally pulled over to the side of the road. As the troopers patrol unit came to a stop behind the pickup the two convicts opened fire on them. Both Trooper Summers and Young were killed. The convicts then traveled east on Highway 22 into Caddo with their location being broadcast by an OHP airplane that was following them overhead. Once in Caddo the pickup pulled into a driveway on Court Street, the two convicts jumped out and hid behind some nearby shrubbery. Almost immediately, an unmarked OHP unit pulled up in front of the driveway driven by Lt. Hoyt Hughes with his partner, Lt. Pat Grimes, 36. The convicts opened fire on the troopers immediately, killing Trooper Grimes. Trooper Hughes was also wounded but after empting his pistol retrieved a semi-automatic rifle from his dead partners lap and emptied it at the convicts, killing Lancaster. Other troopers soon arrived and in the continuing shootout killed Dennis. His wife, Kay and a daughter survived Trooper Grimes. May 26, 1978, “Black Friday” was the worst day in the 40-year history of the OHP, however less than two months later three more troopers would die in the line of duty.

Duane Lee Grundy, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Shortly after 2 A.M. on Wednesday, April 11, 1990, Trooper Grundy, 40, was on the shoulder of the west-bound lanes of the Will Rogers Turnpike, nine miles north of Vinita issuing a citation for a burned out headlight to the driver of a van, which was towing another van. Trooper Grundy’s patrol unit was parked behind the vans with the emergency lights on. Trooper Grundy was walking toward the back of the towed van to get a license plate number when he was struck by a passing 1975 Chevrolet pickup traveling at 60 miles an hour. Trooper Grundy was knocked into the van and died instantly. The driver of the van used Grundy’s unit radio to call for help. The driver of the pickup, James A. Grundy, 68, (no relation to the trooper) was charged with negligent homicide. His wife, Deborah, a daughter and a son, survived Trooper Grundy.

Mark Owen Harris, Lake Patrolman

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

About 5 A.M. on Sunday, September 2, 1984, Lake Patrolman Harris, 36, was issuing a ticket to a speeder on the shoulder of the southbound lanes of I-35 near Indian Hills Road in Cleveland County. Patrick Fitzgerald, 24, was driving southbound when his car went off the roadway and struck Patrolman Harris’ patrol pickup then the speeder’s car and Patrolman Harris, knocking him 70 feet on to the roadway where a second car struck him and kept going. Patrolman Harris was dead at the scene from multiple internal injuries. Fitzgerald was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. The driver who did not stop was never identified. Patrolman Harris was survived by his wife Christine “Chrissi” as well as a young son and daughter.

Sam Randolph Henderson, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Shortly after 10:30 P.M. on Wednesday, May 7, 1941, Trooper Henderson and Trooper O. M. “Red” Kizziar stopped a car for defective lights in the 400 block of Lee Boulevard in Lawton. As Trooper Henderson, 39, walked in front of the patrol car he was stuck by a vehicle going in the opposite direction traveling approximately 50 miles an hour, sideswiping both stopped vehicles. Trooper Henderson was thrown 75 feet and died before he could be taken to the hospital across the street. The hit-and-run driver, a Fort Sill soldier, was later located at a bar and charged with driving while intoxicated and first degree manslaughter. Trooper Henderson was the first OHP Trooper to die in the line of duty. He was survived by his wife, a son and daughter

Cell C. Howell, First Lieutenant

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

At 9 A.M. on Wednesday, April 27, 1977, Lt. Howell was near the entrance to the H. E. Baily Turnpike on Highway 62 in far southwest Oklahoma City. As he walked on the shoulder of the highway to assist a stranded motorist, he was struck by a vehicle and knocked 30 feet, sustaining fatal injuries. The drunk hit and run driver was arrested a short time later at SW 15th and Agnew in Oklahoma City on his way to work in the stockyards. Lt. Howell was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

Thomas Frank Isbell, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Just before midnight on Wednesday, December 20, 1972, Trooper Isbell and his partner Trooper Robert Foltz were investigating a traffic accident five miles west of El Reno on I-40. The scene was surrounded by the troopers’ cruiser with emergency lights on, burning flares and traffic cones. As Trooper Isbell, 26, was measuring skid marks in the roadway, when a car driven by Elyse Ann Madison, 21, from Des Moines, Iowa, struck him and carried him 128 feet. Trooper Isbell was thrown to the pavement when the car skidded to a stop. Trooper Isbell was dead on arrival at Park View Hospital in El Reno. Trooper Isbell was survived by his parents.

Randy Joe Littlefield, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Monday evening about 6:40 P.M., January 15, 1990, Trooper Littlefield was directing traffic around a disabled vehicle on Highway 20 three miles east of Jay in Delaware County when he was struck by a passing vehicle traveling approximately 50 miles an hour. Trooper Littlefield was pinned under a truck which was assisting the disabled vehicle for almost 30 minutes. Trooper Littlefield died shortly after arriving at the hospital in Grove. He was survived by his wife Brenda and two children, Jason,13, and Lorenda, 11. Ross England, the driver who struck Trooper Littlefield, was charged with first-degree manslaughter and driving under the influence of drugs.

James Alvin Long, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

At 2:30 A.M. on Sunday, July 11, 1942, Trooper Long, 32, had just gotten off duty and was driving home north on N Broadway by Winan’s Park just south of NW 23rd Street in Oklahoma City when he heard a young woman screaming in the park to his left. He observed her being beat by a man. Long stopped his car and got out just as the young woman yelled “Look out! He has a gun!” The man fired four shots from a .32 automatic at Trooper Long hitting him twice in the chest. The man then ran southeast across Broadway past the downed officer and disappeared behind a fence on the south side of the Borden dairy plant. Witnesses called police and an ambulance. The young lady and Trooper Long were transported to Policlinic hospital where Trooper Long died at 4:30 A.M. becoming the first OHP Trooper to die in the line-of-duty by gun fire. He was survived by his wife. No one was ever prosecuted for Trooper Long’s murder.

J. C. Magar, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

On Sunday, June 29, 1975, the day after Trooper Magar’s 29th birthday, he stopped to assist a stranded couple two miles south of Hugo on Highway 271. Trooper Magar gave the couple, Charles and Irene McAlpine, a ride into Hugo to a car wash to use a pay phone. Trooper Magar then drove to the Hugo police station a block away. The McAlpines soon followed the trooper into the police station. Charles McAlpine walked over to the trooper and asked him to make a phone call for him then grabbed Trooper Magar’s gun from its holster. McAlpine ordered the trooper outside and to take him to an airport. Once outside the police station McAlpine shot Trooper Magar in the chest then ran pursued by Hugo officers. During the exchange of shots with the officers McAlpine shot himself in the head. The trooper and McAlpine were taken to the hospital where they both died that afternoon. His wife Brenda and two children, Dana, 8, and James, 5, survived Trooper Magar. His son James went on to become an Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper.

William L. “Bill” McClendon, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Guy David Nalley, Trooper 

Oklahoma Highway Patrol 

Guy David Nalley, a former Seminole Police officer, had been a state trooper about two years when he stopped a truck and trailer on State Highway 6 about twenty miles west of Elk City Saturday evening, October 27, 1984, about 8:30 P.M. When he radioed to check the tag registration he was advised that the trailer tag was stolen. When backup officers arrived soon afterwards they found Nalley dead from two .25 caliber gunshot wounds to the back of the head. Guy Nalley, 29, was survived by his wife Jean Ann, and four children including a new born son. 

Joseph Earl Nicolle, Trooper 

Oklahoma Highway Patrol 

Richard Dean Oldaker, Trooper 

Oklahoma Highway Patrol 

Trooper Oldaker, 33, had been with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) for nine years, the last two years as a pilot in the Aircraft Division. He had previously served with the Norman Police Department

On the afternoon of Monday, July 3, 1978, Trooper Oldaker was piloting a Cessna 182 single engine aircraft with OHP Trooper Rondal Alexander and U S Army Military Police Officer Ronald D. Russell on board as observers. The plane was being used as a traffic spotter aircraft for holiday traffic.  Sometime between 10 A.M. and 3 P.M. that day, the aircraft crashed about three miles west of the Salt Fork River in Harman County, near the Texas border, killing all three officers.

Kenny Lee Osborn, Trooper 

Oklahoma Highway Patrol 

At about 4 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, July 13, 1978, Trooper Kenny Osborn pulled over to the side of the Turner Turnpike about seven miles west of Sapulpa to check an abandoned station wagon.  This area of the turnpike was under construction because part of the roadway had been sinking. Traffic had been narrowed to a single lane and the abandoned station wagon was presenting a possible traffic hazard. While the trooper was standing beside the station wagon, a semi-trailer truck loaded with 25 tons of reinforced steel entered the construction area at an excessive rate of speed. The truck sideswiped the station wagon and knocked the trooper 23 feet. The trooper died at the scene from his injuries and the truck driver, Gerald Crawford, 36, was charged with negligent homicide.  

Larry Bruce Smith, Trooper 

Oklahoma Highway Patrol 

Steve R Smith, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

About 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 25, 1999, the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office was notified that a woman had been shot at Ballard Cemetery north of Bernice. Officers found the woman’s body. It was that of Geraldine Davis who had been shot in the head. Shortly afterwards a pickup pulled into the cemetery. The male driver got out and walked to a table in the cemetery. The man, Calton Davis, 52, was the husband of the dead woman and was armed with a .357 Magnum handgun.  Trooper Smith was called to negotiate with the man. Along with Sheriff Jim Earp, Trooper Smith was able to talk Davis into laying the gun on the table. After over an hour of negotiations, at about 9:20 p.m., the officers felt they were not making any progress. They tried to distract Davis and get to the gun before he did.  Davis was able to grab the gun just as the two officers got to him. During the struggle Trooper Smith was wounded in the neck and Sheriff Earp was grazed in the arm before Davis turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.

Trooper Smith’s wound left him a quadriplegic, paralyzed below the neck.  Smith was forced to take a medical retirement in December 2000.

Trooper Smith, 43, died February 9, 2006, from his injuries. He was survived by his son Blake and his daughter Stephanie.

Kenneth Dean Strang, Second Lieutenant

 Oklahoma Highway Patrol 

When Kenneth Strang joined the OHP in 1966, he became a second-generation trooper following in his father, Wally’s footsteps.  Shortly before 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 1, 1980, Strang was going home after working a ten-hour shift, traveling north of Okmulgee on Highway 75. On most other nights, Strang would have been headed home by 2:00 a.m.  But winter storms often meant long hours and extra duty for troop supervisors such as Strang. Since 7:00 p.m. Friday, Strang had been working a deluge of traffic accidents, some minor, some more serious. At 5:55 a.m. that Saturday, Strang radioed Tulsa Highway Patrol headquarters, as he had hundreds of times in his career, to run a check on an abandoned vehicle he passed as he headed home. Seven minutes later, Strang was dead. His patrol car slid out of control on the slick icy highway and struck a guardrail slamming into a bridge abutment head-on.  Passing motorists tried to pull him from the wreckage, but failed.  Strang was survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Houston F. “Pappy” Summers - Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

On Friday morning, May 26, 1978, the nation wide search for two escaped convicts, Claude Eugene Dennis, 35, and Michael Charles Lancaster, 25, centered around Lake Texhoma. The pair had escaped from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester thirty-four days earlier. Since then the pair had engaged in a crime spree that covered 1,000 miles from Oklahoma to Alabama and included seven murders. They also had wounded a police officer in Alabama. Highway Patrol (OHP) Troopers were sent from all over Oklahoma to assist in the search.

That morning a farmer in Kenefic reported that two heavily armed men tied him up and stole his pickup truck. The description of the pickup was broadcast to all units in the area.

OHP Troopers Houston F. “Pappy” Summers, 62, and Billy Gene Young, 50, located the pickup on Highway 48 eight miles north of Durant and pursued it north to near Kenefic. The pickup finally pulled over to the side of the road. As the troopers patrol unit came to a stop behind the pickup the two convicts opened fire on them. Both Trooper Summers and Young were killed.

The convicts then traveled east on Highway 22 into Caddo with their location being broadcast by an OHP airplane that was following them overhead. Once in Caddo the pickup pulled into a driveway on Court Street, the two convicts jumped out and hid behind some nearby shrubbery. Almost immediately, an unmarked OHP unit pulled up in front of the driveway driven by Lt. Hoyt Hughes with his partner, Lt. Pat Grimes, 36. The convicts opened fire on the troopers immediately, killing Trooper Grimes. Trooper Hughes was also wounded but after empting his pistol retrieved a semi-automatic rifle from his dead partners lap and emptied it at the convicts, killing Lancaster. Other troopers soon arrived and in the continuing shootout killed Dennis.  Trooper Summers was preparing to retire after 32 years when he was killed.       

Christopher Michael VanKrevelen, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Shortly after going on duty at 4 P.M. on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 28, 2002, Trooper Van Krevelen, 29, responded to a car-train accident call. While north bound on the U.S. 81 overpass in route to the call, Trooper Van Krevelen lost control of his Camero patrol car. The Camero struck the guardrail and burst into flames. Trooper Van Krevelen died at the scene. Trooper Van Krevelen joined the OHP 3 ½ years before his death and had served with the Enid Police Department prior to that. Trooper Van Krevelen left behind his wife Jessica. They had been married 8 ½ months.

William James Walker, Trooper

Oklahoma Highway Patrol 

Around 6:30 p.m. on the evening of Wednesday, February 17, 1971, Trooper William “Bill” Walker and Park Superintendent T. Leo Newton were shot to death while attempting to arrest Edwin E. Jones, 25, and his cousin, William B. Franklin, 23, for possessing firearms inside the Fountainhead State Park.  Jones was AWOL from the Army and Franklin was an ex-convict.  Game Ranger W. L. Pickens, 61, was wounded in the incident.  The thirteen year old son of Newton was riding his motorcycle down the winding driveway when he came upon the tragic scene discovering that one of the murdered men was his own father. The two suspects fled on foot but cold weather and hunger drove them to surrender a couple of days later.  Both Franklin and Jones were convicted in the connection with the shootings. Franklin was sentenced to die for killing Trooper Walker. In 1973, that sentence was commuted to life in prison. He was also given a life term for Superintendent Newton’s death. Jones received two life sentences for the murders and 20 years for assault with intent to kill in the wounding of Ranger Pickens. Jones’ conviction was overturned in 1983. Jones was retried in 1985, and Franklin testified that he did all of the shooting.  Jones was acquitted.  Walker had been a Trooper for four years and was survived by his wife, Jeanette, and two sons.

Johnnie D. Whittle, Trooper 

Oklahoma Highway Patrol
 
On the morning of Monday, September 14, 1953, Billy Eugene Manley, 18, and Lloyd Shepherd, 16, arrived in Oklahoma City.  These two young men had escaped from a reformatory in Boonesville, Missouri where they had stolen a car and driven it until it broke down on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. The driver, who picked up the two young hitchhikers, thought they acted a little suspiciously so he contacted Director Bivens. Bivens assigned Trooper Whittle to check on the boys. Trooper Whittle located the two boys shortly before 8:30 A.M. and put them into his unmarked patrol car to transport them to OHP headquarters for questioning. As Whittle stopped in the headquarters driveway, Manley drew a .22 automatic pistol from a shoulder holster and held it on the officer. As Whittle started to grab the gun, Manley shot him once fatally. Shepherd tried to grab the gun but Manley shot him in the hand. Manley ran from the scene, but Shepherd stayed with the dying trooper and tried to radio for an ambulance. Manley was captured less than three hours later.  Manley was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 65 years in prison.  He was recommended for parole in the summer of 1972.

Billy Gene Young  - Trooper,

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

On Friday morning, May 26, 1978, the nation wide search for two escaped convicts, Claude Eugene Dennis, 35, and Michael Charles Lancaster, 25, centered around Lake Texhoma. The pair had escaped from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester thirty-four days earlier. Since then the pair had engaged in a crime spree that covered 1,000 miles from Oklahoma to Alabama and included seven murders. They also had wounded a police officer in Alabama. Highway Patrol (OHP) Troopers were sent from all over Oklahoma to assist in the search.

That morning a farmer in Kenefic reported that two heavily armed men tied him up and stole his pickup truck. The description of the pickup was broadcast to all units in the area.

OHP Troopers Houston F. “Pappy” Summers, 62, and Billy Gene Young, 50, located the pickup on Highway 48 eight miles north of Durant and pursued it north to near Kenefic. The pickup finally pulled over to the side of the road. As the troopers patrol unit came to a stop behind the pickup the two convicts opened fire on them. Both Trooper Summers and Young were killed.

The convicts then traveled east on Highway 22 into Caddo with their location being broadcast by an OHP airplane that was following them overhead. Once in Caddo the pickup pulled into a driveway on Court Street, the two convicts jumped out and hid behind some nearby shrubbery. Almost immediately, an unmarked OHP unit pulled up in front of the driveway driven by Lt. Hoyt Hughes with his partner, Lt. Pat Grimes, 36. The convicts opened fire on the troopers immediately, killing Trooper Grimes. Trooper Hughes was also wounded but after empting his pistol retrieved a semi-automatic rifle from his dead partners lap and emptied it at the convicts, killing Lancaster. Other troopers soon arrived and in the continuing shootout killed Dennis.  Trooper Young had been a Trooper 25 years when he was killed . He was survived by his wife, three sons and a grandchild.

May 26, 1978, “Black Friday” was the worst day in the 40-year history of the OHP, however less than two months later three more troopers would die in the line of duty.