Roll of Honor
Incident
Sheriff John Bechtold suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after arriving at the scene of a fatal accident near Herreid at approximately 2300 hours.
The sheriff and his deputy were the first responders to arrive and he was performing CPR on one of the accident victims when he began to feel ill and collapsed. He died en route to a local hospital.
Sheriff Bechtold had served as sheriff for two years and had previously served as a deputy with the 2-person Campbell County Sheriff's Office for 6 years.
Survivors
He is survived by his wife and two daughters.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-SD-54B02534- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Sheriff Bechtold gave the Campbell County Sheriff's Office 8 years.
Thank you for your service to the Mound City community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sheriff Bechtold.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Sheriff John W. Bechtold, Jr. is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In SD, 4 of 62 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 6.5% of this state's fallen. That is 2.5 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
At Campbell County Sheriff's Dept., 2 of 2 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 100% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. John W. Bechtold, Jr.'s cause is highlighted.
How John W. Bechtold, Jr. Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. John W. Bechtold, Jr. is highlighted in Aug.
Others Who Wore This Badge
1 officer from Campbell County Sheriff's Dept. are honored on badge.nw.
