Sergeant Jesse L. Henderson, 49, of the Wellston Police Department was shot and killed while on duty in the early morning hours of September 30, 1981. Henderson had been en route to a burglar alarm at Vijon Laboratories when he spotted suspicious activity at Gene’s Package Liquor Store, 6237 Plymouth Avenue. As he pulled up in an unmarked patrol car to interrupt an apparent burglary, he was shot once in the chest before he could exit the vehicle or draw his weapon. He was later found in uniform beside his running patrol car with his unfired revolver beneath him.

Officers on scene exchanged gunfire with fleeing suspects. Investigators initially arrested three people; an adult and a juvenile were charged with capital murder. The only physical item recovered at the scene was a brown hat believed to belong to one of the suspects. Charges were reportedly dropped later without public explanation, leaving the killing legally unresolved. Henderson, a Korean War veteran and former police chief, left a wife and eleven children and was buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Does anyone have information about the burglary or the brown hat that could help bring clarity to what happened that night?