Roll of Honor

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Patrolman

Donald Harold Crittendon

Cape Girardeau Police Department — Cape Girardeau, MO

Veteran → Felonious

End of Watch March 21, 1961

Age 24

Tour of Duty 2 yrs

Badge 23

The Vigil Panel 96 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Military Department 4

Incident

Patrolman Crittendon and Auxillary Sergeant Herbert L. Goss were shot when they stopped two escaped convicts in a stolen car. Sergeant Goss was shot to death as he reached the drivers window. Patrolman Crittendon was shot in the abdomen by the other convict as he walked to the passenger side of the vehicle. Patrolman Crittendon died from his wounds at Southeast Missouri Hospital eleven days later. Both convicts along with a third convict had escaped from a jail in San Luis Obispo, California, on Febuary 28, 1961. Before reaching Missouri they robbed a supermarket and a liquor store in New Mexico and Kansas. The third suspect was left behind at a supermarket they were about to rob in Cape Girardeau when they were spotted by Patrolman Crittendon and Sergeant Goss. After they shot the two officers they stole a car from a group of college students at Southeast Missouri State College. Still later they beat up a farmer in Glen Allen, Missouri, and took his car. They then exchanged gunfire with the Greenville, Missouri Sheriff and a State Trooper before escaping. All of these events took place the same day Patrolman Crittendon and Sergeant Goss were shot. The next day State Troopers arrested one of the suspects at a service station near Cape Girardeau. Hours later the second suspect was captured in a wooded area near Grassy, Missouri. Both suspects were convicted of murdering Patrolman Crittendon and Sergeant Goss. One was sentenced to life in prison. The other one was executed in the gas chamber on July 26, 1963. Patrolman Crittendon had resigned from the department and was serving his last shift. He was murdered 90 minutes before his shift ended. He was a U.S.

Survivors

Navy veteran and was survived by his wife and two daughters.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MO-8D5CB44E
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Also honored at salute.nw — U.S. Navy. One record, 2 gates. Donald is one person.

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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 Crittendon gave the Cape Girardeau Police Department 2 years.
Thank you for your service to the Cape Girardeau community, 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 Cape Girardeau Police Department

Type Other

Location Cape Girardeau, MO

Platform Identity cgpd.capegir.mo.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch March 21, 1961

Tour of Duty 2 yrs

Age 24

Badge Number 23

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Gun

Military Service

Donald Harold Crittendon served in the U.S. Navy before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

Patrolman Donald Harold Crittendon is one of 1 officers killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 0% of all 97,759 officers honored here.

In MO, 516 of 813 officers were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 63.5% of this state's fallen. That is 63.5 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.

At Cape Girardeau Police Department, 5 of 5 officers on record were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 100% of this agency's fallen.

Cape Girardeau Police Department

of 5 officers

100% Felonious

MO — Statewide

516

of 813 officers

63.5% Felonious

Nationwide

of 97,759 officers

0% Felonious