Sergeant Steven Leroy Mahan, 30, was killed while on duty in the early morning hours of January 5, 1983, during a routine check at the Los Cuartos Inn in Elk City, Oklahoma. A struggle followed in which the officer was disarmed, restrained with his own handcuffs, and shot three times. He died at 5:30 a.m. that morning. Mahan had served with the Elk City Police Department for five years and was survived by a young daughter.

Two men, Jerry E. Long and Mitchell E. Henderson, were later convicted and sentenced to forty years for their roles, and a third man, Bobby L. Ross, was identified as the shooter and received the death penalty.

Does anyone have memories of Elk City in 1983 or information about Sergeant Mahan’s life and service to share?