Walter Lee Peterson

Pennsylvania Department of Corrections — Mechanicsburg, PA

Veteran → Felonious

End of Watch December 10, 1973

Age 42

Tour of Duty 15 yrs

The Vigil Panel 113 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Military Department 17

Incident

Captain Walter Peterson was beaten to death with a chair after being attacked by four inmates in the exercise room at Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh. He had just been promoted to captain three hours before the attack. One of the suspects was in prison for murdering Officer Joseph Zanella, of the Verona Police Department, on September 19th, 1969. He hanged himself in his cell on December 6th, 1978. Two inmates were convicted of first-degree murder and got a life term added to their sentences. One had recently stabbed a fellow inmate to death. As of 2017, he had been in solitary confinement for 47 years, longer than any other inmate in Pennsylvania prison history. Another one was in prison for murdering two women near Bedford. He died in prison in 2001. The fourth inmate turned state evidence on the others and was acquitted. Captain Peterson was a U.S. Air Force veteran of the Korean War. He had served with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for 15 years.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife and son.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-PA-0EC776C1
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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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.
Captain Peterson gave the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections 15 years.
Thank you for your service to the people of Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania Department of Corrections

Type Corrections

Location Mechanicsburg, PA

Platform Identity pdcorr.cumberland.pa.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch December 10, 1973

Tour of Duty 15 yrs

Age 42

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Blunt object

Military Service

Walter Lee Peterson served in the U.S. Air Force before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

Captain Walter Lee Peterson 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 PA, 597 of 1,261 officers were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 47.3% of this state's fallen. That is 47.3 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.

At Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, 13 of 18 officers on record were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 72.2% of this agency's fallen.

Pennsylvania Department of Corrections

of 18 officers

72.2% Felonious

PA — Statewide

597

of 1,261 officers

47.3% Felonious

Nationwide

of 97,759 officers

0% Felonious