BROTHER OF MURDERED POLICE OFFICER DIES

WEBSTER GROVES --Visitation for former Cape Girardeau police officer Jack V. Crittendon will be at Gerber Funeral Home, 45 W. Lockwood in Webster Groves, today from 4-9 p.m.

Lt. Crittendon, 56, died Monday at his home in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis.

Crittendon joined the Cape Girardeau Police Department after his brother, Don Crittendon, was killed along with another officer in a shoot-out in 1961.

Crittendon recently retired from the Webster Groves Police Department after 25 years of service.

Funeral services will be at Gerber Funeral Home Friday at 11 a.m. A private internment will follow the funeral service.

Joan Zobo, the secretary to the Webster Groves' police chief, said Crittendon retired from the department in 1992 because of heart problems. She said he recently underwent quadruple bypass surgery.

"We've lost one of our family members," Zobo said. "We've been feeling real bad here."

Zobo said Crittendon had "nerves of steel." She said he was very quiet, but people wanted to get to know him.

Zobo said he was very active in the police memorial created in Washington D.C.

Before accepting a position with the Webster Groves Police Department in 1966, Crittendon was employed for three or four years with the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

Crittendon replaced his brother, Don Crittendon, after Don and auxiliary police officer Herbert Goss were killed March 10, 1961, during a shoot-out with Sammy Aire Tucker and Douglas Wayne Thompson.

Tucker was executed July 25, 1963, for Don Crittendon's murder on July 25, 1963.

Thompson was paroled by the Missouri Department of Corrections in 1985 after being convicted three times of Herbert Goss' murder.

Thompson was arrested in Minnesota in 1988 for attempted bank robbery. He was sentenced in 1989 to 20 years in the federal penitentiary for that crime.

Crittendon was born and raised in Kennett. His father was the Dunklin County sheriff for many years.

He is survived by his wife, Linda; his son, David; and a brother, Ronald Crittendon of Kennett.