In the pre-dawn hours of May 31, 1981, a 34-year-old White/Caucasian male named Kenneth Bateman, a seven-year veteran of the Darien Police Department, responded to a burglar alarm at the Duchess Patio Restaurant. What began as a routine call quickly escalated into a fatal encounter that would leave a lasting scar on the community and the state's law enforcement. The investigation into his death remains the only unsolved killing of a police officer in Connecticut's history.
Upon arriving at the restaurant near the Norwalk city line at approximately 3 a.m., Officer Bateman discovered a door that had been pried open. While awaiting backup, he encountered a suspect attempting to flee the scene by breaking through a plate-glass door. A shootout ensued, and Bateman was tragically struck in the neck. The single. 38 caliber "wad-cutter" slug severed his carotid artery, and he was rushed to Norwalk Hospital where he died from his injuries.
From the early stages of the investigation, police focused on a prime suspect, Anthony Sabato, a man with a wide-ranging criminal history that included numerous arrests for burglary, drugs, and assault. Investigators believed Sabato was connected to a string of other burglaries along the Post Road around the time of Bateman's murder. Furthermore, police suspected that the unique "wad-cutter" bullet that killed Bateman was stolen during a house burglary in Stamford that Sabato was also a suspect in, though he was never charged in that specific break-in. The murder weapon itself has never been recovered.
Despite being publicly named a suspect in 2004, authorities have never been able to gather enough evidence to charge Anthony Sabato with Officer Bateman's murder. Over the years, the case has remained open, with Darien police periodically renewing calls for any information from the public. In 2015, while sentencing Sabato on unrelated federal drug and firearm charges, a judge stated that Sabato had supplied the gun used to kill Bateman. Nevertheless, no murder charges have ever been filed. To this day, rewards are being offered for information that could lead to the recovery of the firearm and the conviction of the person or persons responsible for Kenneth Bateman's death.
