On September 11, 1977, Sidney Leland Houghton, a 65-year-old Sheriff of Daviess County, was killed in Gallatin, Missouri, after responding to a traffic crash. Houghton had arranged for a 16-year-old driver’s car to be towed and personally drove the teenager and his mother back to their rural home about six miles northwest of Gallatin. At about 3:00 a.m., as Houghton prepared to leave, the youth exited the house, flashed the porch light, approached the patrol car and opened the passenger door. The teenager then produced a .22 caliber pistol and fired three shots, in what is described as an unprovoked ambush. Houghton was found lying in the road, taken by ambulance to a Cameron hospital, and pronounced dead there.

Authorities arrested the 16-year-old at the scene. The youth was tried, convicted of first-degree murder, and on December 7, 1978 received a sentence of life in prison without parole. Houghton was a long-serving, respected sheriff from a family of law enforcement officers. Does anyone have information about Houghton’s last shift or the events that led up to that early morning return to the residence?