In the pre-dawn hours of May 16, 2017, Broadwater County Sheriff’s Deputy Mason Palmer Bethea Moore, 42, stopped a speeding vehicle on U.S. Highway 287. After he radioed dispatch around 3 a.m., contact was lost. Officers later found Deputy Moore shot and killed beside his patrol car; he had served three years with Broadwater County.

Investigators recovered the patrol car’s in-car camera and used it to identify a suspect SUV. Law enforcement located the vehicle in Butte-Silver Bow County and a high-speed chase followed across five counties, during which occupants of the fleeing SUV fired at pursuing officers. The pursuit ended near Rock Creek after spike strips disabled the vehicle. The suspects were identified as father and son Lloyd Barrus, 61, and Marshall Barrus, 39. Marshall exited the stopped vehicle and opened fire on officers; he was shot and later died. Lloyd was arrested at the scene on suspicion of deliberate homicide.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Lloyd and Marshall Barrus held anti-government extremist beliefs, had discussed a suicide mission to kill a law enforcement officer, and had purposefully provoked the stop by speeding past Deputy Moore; evidence indicated they fired multiple rounds into the patrol car after an initial shooting. Lloyd Barrus was later convicted of accountability to deliberate homicide and two counts of attempted deliberate homicide and sentenced to three concurrent life terms without parole.

Did anyone in the area know Deputy Moore or see a speeding SUV on Highway 287 that night?