Sergeant Myron G. Deckard, 72, was killed on June 6, 2001, while transporting a prisoner. Deckard, a 32-year veteran of the Vermilion County Sheriff’s Department and the agency’s warrant officer for 15 years, was driving on I-72 near the Cisco exit in Macon County when the handcuffed prisoner freed one hand and forced the vehicle off the road. During the struggle the prisoner seized Deckard’s service handgun and shot him twice, causing his death.

The prisoner, who had been picked up from the Montgomery County Jail in Hillsboro on misdemeanor warrants, later turned himself in at a nearby sheriff’s office and confessed to the killing. He was convicted of murder in November 2002 and initially sentenced to death; that sentence was commuted to life without parole in January 2003. Deckard was survived by his wife and son.