In the early morning hours of Saturday, December 12, 1981, a 23-year-old man named Michael Wayne Ritchie, a Corporal with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, stopped at a convenience store on Lavey Lane in Baker, Louisiana, for a cup of coffee on his way to work. He had been with the sheriff's office for only ten months.
Upon entering the store, Corporal Ritchie, who was in uniform, walked into an armed robbery in progress.
The suspect managed to disarm Corporal Ritchie and tragically used the officer's own service weapon to shoot and kill both him and the store clerk.
Following the double homicide, law enforcement launched an investigation that led to the apprehension of a suspect. The individual was subsequently tried and found guilty on two counts of second-degree murder. A judge sentenced the convicted killer to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
