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Patrolman

Wister Lee Reece

North Carolina Highway Patrol — Raleigh, NC

Veteran → Felonious

End of Watch November 5, 1957

Age 39

Tour of Duty 10 yrs

The Vigil Panel 205 · Column 3 · Line 5 ›

Gender Male

Incident Media Service The Sacrifice Military Memorials 1 Also Remembered Department 68

Incident

Patrolman Wister Reece was shot and killed in Richmond County after stopping the driver of a vehicle for speeding on U.S. 220 near Ellerbe. After the shooting, the suspect fled but was later pulled over by Patrolman James Brown in Lee County. During that stop, the suspect also shot and killed Patrolman Brown. The vehicle, later found to be stolen, was being driven by a New York state mental hospital escapee. The escapee was en route to Mississippi to attempt to break his brother out of death row. Three weeks later the suspect was captured in Bakersfield, California. Since his escape a month earlier, it was discovered that he was involved in numerous burglaries in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to two life terms on March 19, 1958. The suspect, who was North Carolina's oldest and longest-serving inmate, died in prison on July 21st, 2012. He was 90 years old. Patrolman Wister Reece was a U.S Army Air Corps veteran of WWII and served with the North Carolina Highway Patrol for ten years. A section of U.S. 74 near Hamlet, North Carolina, was renamed in honor of Patrolman Reece. He is buried in Eastside Cemetery, Rockingham, Richmond County, North Carolina.

In Our Keeping

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Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: August 2, 2026

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Tributes

I served 1985 to 1993. You served too, before the badge - different uniform, same idea. You go where you are sent and you do not get to pick the call.
Patrolman Reece gave the North Carolina Highway Patrol 10 years.
Thank you for your service to the people of North Carolina, and for your service before it. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, brother.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department North Carolina Highway Patrol

Type Highway Patrol

Location Raleigh, NC

Platform Identity nchp.nc.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch November 5, 1957

Tour of Duty 10 yrs

Age 39

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Gun

Military Service

Wister Lee Reece served in the the United States military before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

The Sacrifice · Felonious

Wister is one of 15,743 officers killed feloniously in the United States, 57.1% of the 27,552 remembered there.

34,103 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

Compare against

Time

In 1957, 67 officers in the United States were killed feloniously, the 107th heaviest of 213 years on record. The heaviest was 1921, with 248.

Every year on record · United States

Who

Wister was 39. Of the 14,219 killed feloniously in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 31 and 47; the middle age was 38. Wister had served 10 years; the middle length of service was 6 years.

Age at death

Where he stood among them

Age by years of service

III

When

November holds 8.1% of these deaths in the United States; December holds the most, 9.4%. Tuesdays: 13.4%.

By month

By day of the week

How

Felonious deaths account for 57.1% of all 27,552 deaths in the United States, the most common cause. The weapon recorded was gun, in 22.8% of these deaths.

Every cause

Weapons recorded