Roll of Honor
Incident
Patrolman Roger Odell suffered a fatal heart attack after taking two juveniles into custody who had escaped from a juvenile detention facility in a neighboring county earlier in the day.
He had received an anonymous tip at approximately 4:00 am that the two were at an apartment complex on the 1900 block Highway 20. He was able to detain the two and once he positively identified them and placed them under arrest. He collapsed moments after placing them both in the rear of his patrol car.
Upon seeing him collapse, one of the juveniles was able to crawl through the prisoner partition into the front of his patrol car and used the radio to alert dispatchers.
Patrolman Odell was a veteran of the Alabama National Guard. He had served with the Town Creek Police Department for approximately 18 months after retiring as chief of the Courtland Police Department.
Survivors
He is survived by his wife and four children.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-AL-813F470F- 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 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 Odell gave the Town Creek Police Department 25 years.
Thank you for your service to the Town Creek community. Thank you for your service before it. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, brother.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Military Service
Roger Monroe Odell served in the United States military before joining law enforcement. Full service record available on salute.nw.
Patrolman Roger Monroe Odell 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 AL, 30 of 643 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 4.7% of this state's fallen. That is 0.7 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Roger Monroe Odell's cause is highlighted.
How Roger Monroe Odell Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. Roger Monroe Odell is highlighted in Jan.