On May 31, 1979, Deputy Sheriff Millard Owen Messersmith, 58, was shot and killed while responding to a domestic dispute in Rutherford County, North Carolina. He arrived after Captain Roy Huskey, who had been shot in the head by the suspect as he exited his patrol car. As Messersmith began to back out of the driveway, the suspect opened fire and struck him in the head.

A neighbor reported the shooting, and Trooper Robert Peterson, alerted by garbled radio traffic, drove toward Rutherfordton and attempted to stop the suspect’s car, believing it to be a speeding vehicle. Peterson was found with a gunshot wound to the head; his service revolver had been fired once. The suspect was later apprehended, convicted of capital murder, and executed in 1984.

The three fallen officers are remembered by colleagues and the community. Does anyone have information about the scene that night or personal memories of these officers?