In the late hours of a Tuesday in September 1978, Sergeant Earl Marlin Heisler, a 37-year-old White male, was dutifully patrolling James City County, Virginia. His attention was drawn to a suspicious vehicle occupied by three individuals parked behind the Ramada Inn West on Route 60. The area had been plagued by a string of burglaries at the nearby Stratford Hall Apartments, and Sergeant Heisler, a six-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office, was exercising heightened vigilance.
As he approached the car and began to speak with the occupants, his experienced eye caught sight of a bag of marijuana on the backseat. This discovery prompted him to initiate a search of the vehicle. In a sudden and tragic turn of events, the driver of the car, later identified as Ronald Thatcher, managed to wrestle Sergeant Heisler's service weapon away from him. Thatcher then turned the gun on the officer and fired a single, fatal shot to his face.
The assailant fled the state in the aftermath of the murder, but law enforcement officials were able to track him down and extradite him back to Virginia to stand trial for his crime. Thatcher was subsequently found guilty of the murder of Sergeant Earl Marlin Heisler and was sentenced to life in prison for his actions. After serving several decades of his sentence, Ronald Thatcher was granted parole in March of 2018.
