In the pre-dawn hours of January 18, 1979, a silent alarm shattered the quiet of Oakland, Maryland, drawing Garrett County Deputy Sheriff David G. Livengood to an army/navy discount store. It was a response that would tragically be his last, marking the first and only line-of-duty death of a Garrett County officer. Deputy Livengood, a 31-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran and an eight-year veteran of the sheriff's office, was shot and killed by two men he confronted during the burglary.
His K-9 partner, Sarge, was also slain in the brutal encounter.
The investigation swiftly led to the apprehension of two suspects, Roberto Rezek and Richard Tichnell, later that same day near Morgantown, West Virginia. Rezek was identified as a member of the Pagan Motorcycle Club, and Tichnell was a prospective member. The ensuing legal process saw both men convicted for their roles in the murder of Deputy Livengood. Tichnell was initially sentenced to death, a sentence that was later commuted to life in prison. He would ultimately die behind bars.
Rezek was also convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, his case took a significant turn decades later when, in 2011, a judge reversed his conviction due to improper jury instructions during the original trial. In 2016, rather than face a new trial, Rezek pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. In a move that considered the nearly 38 years he had already served, the judge sentenced him to a suspended life sentence with credit for time served and placed him on five years of supervised probation. This decision concluded the long and complex legal aftermath of the violent events that took the life of Deputy David Livengood more than three decades earlier.
