For Henry Franklin’s wife and four children, October 6, 2025, is not simply the date a public record marks as an End of Watch. It is the day a husband and father was taken from them at 41, leaving an absence no badge, ceremony, or passing year can make whole. Franklin was a United States military veteran and a Police Officer with the Sikeston Department of Public Safety. His death carries the… Read more
Roger Smith spent three decades in public safety, helping protect people through two North Carolina police agencies. On November 8, 2025, that life was taken by gunfire inside a hospital emergency department—a place associated with treatment, urgency, and the effort to save lives. He was 59 years old. For the people who knew him through WakeMed Campus Police & Public Safety Department and the Knightdale Police Department, Officer Smith was more than… Read more
At 20, Specialist Sarah Diane Beckstrom had already given two years and five months to service. On November 27, 2025, that service ended when she succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained while on patrol in Washington, D.C. Her death leaves behind more than a uniform, a rank, or a line in a record. It leaves the unbearable fact of a young life cut short while she was doing work meant to protect others.… Read more
Officer Matthew John Rittner spent 17 years serving Milwaukee. On February 6, 2019, that service ended in gunfire while he and fellow officers carried out a search warrant. He was 35 years old. This Matthew Rittner memorial remembers a Milwaukee Police officer, Tactical Enforcement Unit member, and United States Marine Corps veteran whose life was taken in an act of deliberate violence. His name belongs at the center of the story: a… Read more
Officer Jillian Michelle Smith had completed field training only 15 days before she answered a domestic violence call on December 28, 2010. When an armed attacker returned to the apartment, Jillian placed herself between him and an 11-year-old girl. The child survived. Jillian did not. She was 24 years old, ten days past her birthday, and at the beginning of the career she had wanted since childhood. This Jillian Smith memorial honors… Read more
Officer Noah Aaron Leotta was 24 years old when an impaired driver struck him during a traffic stop. He was working to keep other families safe from the very danger that took his life. Seven days later, on December 10, 2015, he died from his injuries. This Noah Leotta memorial remembers a young officer whose service lasted nearly three years, whose enthusiasm reached the people around him, and whose death helped change… Read more
Officer Jason Robert Raynor was only 26. On June 23, 2021, the Daytona Beach police officer was shot while investigating a suspicious vehicle. He survived for nearly two months before dying on August 17, with his family beside him. The work he had chosen, and the future he had worked to build, should have continued for years. This Jason Raynor memorial remembers the young man behind the uniform: someone determined to become… Read more
Officer Ella Grace French was 29 when a traffic stop ended the life she had devoted to helping others. On August 7, 2021, the Chicago police officer was shot and killed. Her partner, Carlos Yanez Jr., was critically wounded. A night on duty became a permanent loss for her family and a lasting wound for the city she served. This Ella French memorial honors the person behind Star 15013: a daughter, a… Read more
One day after taking her oath, Officer Ashley Marie Guindon answered a call for help and never came home. She was 28. Her career with the Prince William County Police Department should have been opening into years of service. Instead, February 27, 2016, became her End of Watch. This Ashley Guindon memorial honors the woman behind that devastating first-shift headline: a Marine Corps reservist, a daughter, and a new police officer whose… Read more
Officer Brian Elliott: When Duty Becomes a Death Sentence On February 16th, 2026, Officer Brian Elliott was shot and killed while responding to a domestic disturbance in Beech Grove, a call that should have ended with people being protected, not a life being taken. Around 6:00 p.m., he did what every good officer is trained to do, step forward into a situation most people would run from. He walked into uncertainty with… Read more
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