Area police honor officers who died while on duty

By unfortunate necessity, there is still room for plaques on the police officer memorial at Cape Girardeau County Park North.

The newest space belongs to Dewayne Graham Jr.

Dozens of police officers and Southeast Missouri residents paid their annual tribute Friday to lawmen who have died in the line of duty.

Graham was the latest area law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty. Graham was shot and killed recently at his Van Buren, Mo., home after arriving home from work.

He graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a degree in law enforcement and later was an officer in Perryville, Mo., and Dexter, Mo., before signing on with the highway patrol.

The ceremony was well attended as nearly every seat in the conservation office building's auditorium was full. Officers stood around the walls and into the hallway. The officers in the hallway each held a white rose. They placed their roses in a vase at the front of the room as each name was called.

"You always think about the officers as a whole, but especially the ones you knew personally," said Sgt. Cody Fulkerson of the highway patrol. Fulkerson personally knew James Froemsdorf, Randy Sullivan, David May, Robert Guilliams and Graham, all of whom were troopers who died on duty.

"We want to let the families know we haven't forgotten," Fulkerson said.

Fulkerson said the highway patrol is still numb from Graham's death. He said the investigation is ongoing, and it's a difficult duty for troopers to have to transfer the murder suspect back and forth to court.

Fulkerson also remembered Sgt. Bradley Lively, who somehow survived an accident where he was struck by a vehicle on Interstate 55.

"He's doing well and his spirits are good," Fulkerson said. "It's a slow healing process, but he really is making a miraculous recovery."

Kathleen Riggs-Ruopp, whose husband, Timothy Ruopp, was shot and killed in the line of duty in 1984, said the ceremony is bittersweet.

"When you have a memorial day, it reminds you that they didn't die without anyone knowing," she said. "It's very positive for all of us, but it's a hard time emotionally."

Ruopp worked as an assistant jail administrator at the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department before moving out to San Diego, where his wife was from. He and two other officers were shot -- two were killed -- while trying to issue a summons for minors in possession of alcohol, Riggs-Ruopp said. It turned out the minors were gang members.

Ruopp left behind four young children, ages 8, 7, 5 and 3.

Those children are adults now.

"It is very good for them," said Riggs-Ruopp, who also lost a brother in the line of duty. "The two youngest don't remember him. It's really important and helps us in remembering him."

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635