On March 14, 1987, Deputy Sheriff Craig Dodge of the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office was killed responding alone to a domestic assault at 421 Main Street in Hickman, Nebraska. Backup was delayed by about 20 minutes; Dodge arrived after the suspect had returned and threatened a neighbor with a gun. A witness told him the man was armed and that the wife and two young children were inside the apartment.

Deputy Dodge engaged the man at the apartment door, attempting to de-escalate. The suspect appeared holding his wife with a concealed .38 caliber revolver pressed against her back and, after several minutes, suddenly raised the handgun and fatally shot Dodge in the face. The assailant fled, discarded the weapon in a nearby creek, and was apprehended shortly after; he was later convicted of first-degree murder and using a weapon to commit a felony and received a life sentence.

Deputy Dodge was 42, had two years with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office and five years in law enforcement overall. He was survived by his wife, two sons, two stepsons, parents, a brother and two sisters. Does anyone have memories of Deputy Dodge or information about the Hickman scene that could add detail to the account?