On the evening of February 28, 1979, 32-year-old Deputy Sheriff and juvenile officer Gordon Leon Galemore was killed in Charleston, Missouri while on duty. Galemore was transporting two brothers to a residence in the Plainview addition when a robbery suspect, described as a 29-year-old intoxicated male wanted in a separate incident, unexpectedly climbed into the front seat of the patrol vehicle and asked to be let off elsewhere. The deputy drove to a parking lot behind the police station. Both men drew firearms inside the patrol car and exchanged gunfire. Galemore was struck in the chest, exited the vehicle, and collapsed on the pavement, where he died of his wounds.

The suspect had been shot during the encounter and fled on foot. Missouri Trooper Dennis Lewis shot the wounded man, who continued to be a threat and was fatally shot minutes later by Deputy Sheriff Robert Smith in a nearby parking lot behind an insurance agency on Main Street. Because the assailant died from wounds sustained in the confrontation with law enforcement, there were no arrests or trials connected to Galemore’s killing.

Did anyone in Charleston at the time have information about the robbery suspect or the events that night that could shed further light on what happened?