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On Friday, I was honored to attend the Rutherford County fallen heroes memorial ceremony.
Today, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office said,
“On Friday, May 30, 2025, a memorial service was conducted at the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office to honor law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the performance of their duties while serving the citizens of Rutherford County. The service was held near the flagpole at a monument which is dedicated in memory of the deadliest day for law enforcement in Rutherford County’s history.
Each fallen officer’s name was read followed with the date of their end of watch along with the cause of death.
As the name was called out, a single rose was placed at the monument by a member of the Sheriff’s Office’s Honor Guard and a salute was rendered.
During a ringing of the bell portion of the ceremony, a bell was rung after all the fallen officers’ names had been called out. The bell chimed once for each name called. A bugler played Taps.
Rutherford County Sheriff Aaron Ellenburg opened the service with leading the pledge of allegiance followed by an opening prayer lead by former Rutherford County Sheriff Chris Francis.
Sheriff Ellenburg then shared comments honoring those who paid the ultimate sacrifice by laying down their lives in the service of the law enforcement profession. He also acknowledged the officers’ families who bear the weight of great loss.
A member of each of the fallen officer’s agency called out their name with reverence and respect.
Those leading the service in addition to Sheriff Ellenburg, former Sheriff Francis and members of the Sheriff’s Office’s Honor Guard were Forest City Chief of Police Chris Leroy, North Carolina State Probation Unit Supervisor Chad Huffstickler, North Carolina State Highway Patrol Line Sergeant Andy Waycaster, North Carolina State Highway Patrol First Sergeant Everett Reid and North Carolina State Representative and Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office Chaplain Paul Scott.
Below is a list of those honored during the ceremony:
Rutherford County Constable John Landrum Greene. End of Watch March 13, 1898. Cause of Death Gunfire.
Rutherford County Rural Police Officer James Reuben Lee. End of Watch August 26, 1923. Cause of Death Gunfire.
Rutherford County Rural Police Officer Clyde Morrow. End of Watch May 26, 1925. Cause of Death Motor Vehicle Related.
Forest City Chief of Police Austin Amos Price. End of Watch June 6, 1931. Cause of Death Gunfire and Knife Wound.
Rutherford County Constable’s Office Constable Zeb V. McKinney. End of Watch November 27, 1935. Cause of Death Motor Vehicle Related.
Forest City Patrol Officer Roy Eugene Watkins. End of Watch October 7, 1939. Cause of Death Gunfire.
Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office Captain Roy Huskey. End of Watch May 31, 1979. Cause of Death Gunfire.
Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Millard Owen Messersmith. End of Watch May 31, 1979. Cause of Death Gunfire.
North Carolina State Trooper Robert Lee “Pete” Peterson. End of Watch May 31, 1979. Cause of Death Gunfire.
State Probation Unit Supervisor William “Bill” Vance Lee. End of Watch September 11, 1989. Cause of Death Motor Vehicle Related.
North Carolina State Trooper John Sumpter Horton. End of Watch January 3, 2022. Cause of Death Motor Vehicle Related.
The service concluded with a prayer from Representative/Chaplain Scott and a blessing for all who wear the badge.
Never forget . . .”
On Saturday, Hunter Haynes, a RCSO Narcotics Detective and County Commissioner, said, “Today we remember one of the worst tragedies in law enforcement history for Rutherford County. From a law enforcement standpoint I can’t imagine what my grandfather felt during this time, and on top of that, one of the fallen being his brother.”
He appeared to put his differences aside with his fellow commissioner, who implied he was a “keyboard warrior” at the recent budget workshop. Haynes shared what County Commissioner Michael Benfield wrote on Saturday,
“Forty-six years ago today, on the night of May 31, 1979 James W. Hutchins gunned down Rutherford County, NC deputy sheriffs Captain Roy Huskey, 42, brother of the Rutherford County Sheriff Damon Huskey, and Deputy Owen Messersmith, 58, when they arrived separately at the Hutchins residence in Rutherford County, located in the foothills-mountain region of Western North Carolina. The officers had responded to a domestic disturbance call involving Hutchins and his teenage daughter Charlotte, who had returned home from a high school dance where alcohol had been consumed. This caused Hutchins to become enraged and assaultive towards his daughter. When other family members tried to protect Charlotte, he became violent with the rest of his family.
Charlotte escaped and fled to a neighbor’s house where the sheriff's office was called. Hutchins shot Captain Huskey in the head with a high-powered rifle, ambush-style from within his home, as he exited his patrol car which was parked in the driveway in the front of the Hutchins' home. Deputy Messersmith was dispatched several minutes later to check on the captain who had not radioed or called in. Upon arriving, Messersmith apparently saw the captain lying beside his vehicle and realized that Huskey had been fatally shot. As he shifted into reverse and started to back away to cover, Messersmith too was shot in the head through the windshield of his patrol car. The vehicle drifted backwards across the street and came to rest in a ditch with Messersmiths' body slumped over the steering wheel, causing the horn to blow without stop.
A frantic neighbor called the sheriff's office to report that two deputies had been shot in the Hutchins driveway. Confusion ensued at the sheriff's office, as the radio dispatcher on duty fainted when told that the 2 officers had been shot. A jailer in the jail in the next room heard the radio, but became concerned that he did not hear the dispatcher. Upon entering the dispatch area, he realized the dispatcher was passed out and began to answer phones while calling an ambulance for the dispatcher. All available ambulances were speeding to the Hutchins residence at the time, adding to the chaos. The jailer did not know to notify state highway patrol regional headquarters in Asheville, so that troopers could be alerted of the situation to respond to assist and also to get a description of the shooter and his vehicle.
Immediately after the he murdered the 2 deputies, Hutchins fled the scene in his own car, still armed with his high-powered rifle. NC State Highway Patrol Trooper Robert L. "Pete" Peterson, 37, was stopped at the McDowell-Rutherford County line, to the North of Rutherfordton, on US Highway 221, talking to a fellow trooper assigned to McDowell County. Peterson suddenly heard garbled radio traffic on the Rutherford County Sheriff's frequency on his scanner. Troopers often used personally-owned scanners to monitor local law enforcement radio calls, which were on differing frequencies from the State Highway Patrol. Though Peterson could not make out what was happening, he determined something was wrong and left toward Rutherfordton. In the pre-cell phone era, Peterson radioed the Troop "G" communications center in Asheville and asked state highway patrol dispatchers to call the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office and find out what was wrong. Like many rural NC counties, the sheriff's communications center dispatched for all law enforcement agencies in the county except for state officers.
State highway patrol dispatchers called repeatedly, but were not able to get through to the Rutherford County sheriff’s office due to the chaos. They were also unable to get a computer reply either, because the jailer attending the phones did not know how to use the then-new North Carolina state-wide Police Information Network computer system (PIN/later the Division of Criminal Information [DCI]), the NC link of the FBI's nationwide National Crime Information Center (NCIC). Having used the PIN computer system would have enabled communication between the agencies in lieu of the overloaded phone lines. The chaotic situation and unlikely series of unfortunate events prevented troopers in the region from getting an immediate report of the incident and they were thus unaware that two Rutherford County officers had been murdered and that the suspect was at large in his car.
As Trooper Peterson entered the Rutherfordton city limits on US 221, Hutchins sped past the him. Peterson turned and pursued, apparently thinking he was after a speeder and not knowing the suspect had just murdered 2 sheriff deputies. Peterson's last radio transmission to Highway Patrol HQ in Asheville said that the suspect had fled on foot to the tree line. Troopers from across the region were made aware of the 2 Rutherford deputies having been murdered just as contact was lost with Peterson. Troopers who were rushing to assist Rutherford County officers realized that Peterson may have unknowingly encountered the killer of the deputies and slews of on and off-duty troopers began to speed to his location when he did not check in again. Responding troopers arrived to find Peterson's patrol car with the blue light on the roof flashing. It was stopped on the northbound shoulder of a sharp curve on US 221 behind Hutchins' car which was stopped near the tree line. The Trooper was slumped by the driver's side of his patrol car mortally wounded, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. His revolver was drawn and had been fired one time. His body position was consistent with his having apparently used his vehicle engine block for cover, a standard tactic for troopers.
Pete Peterson was a living legend in the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, for being the longest-serving and most motivated physical training instructor in the history of the NC Highway Patrol Training Center. He had transferred to Rutherford County from the Training Center 18 months earlier and was affectionately nicknamed "Super Trooper" by both law enforcement personnel and Rutherford County residents for his incredible physical fitness and relentless motivation to arrest drunken drivers. Pete Peterson remains a legend within the State Highway Patrol, in Rutherford County and in Western North Carolina law enforcement circles.
James Hutchins was captured in a dense thicket in Rutherford County on June 1, 1979 after a 12 hour search conducted by over 200 local, state and federal law enforcement officers from across Western North Carolina. This event was later recounted in a feature film, Rutherford County Line, "Damon's Law" by a local film producer near Rutherford County. Due to the widespread anger of local residents in Rutherford County against Hutchins for having murdered three respected and well-liked area lawmen, Hutchins was jailed the next day in Shelby Cleveland County, North Carolina for his own safety. He was later transferred to the more-secure Buncombe County jail for safekeeping in Asheville, North Carolina. Trooper Peterson was one of 14 NC troopers killed in the western mountains of NC Highway Patrol Troop "G", which is nearly 1/4 of all troopers to die in the line of duty state-wide in North Carolina since the Highway Patrol was established in 1929.
On June 12, 1979, Hutchins' oldest daughter, Charlotte, testified in Rutherford County that on the day of the murders her father beat her and other members of their family. The disagreement was over the amount of vodka the daughter had poured into a punch for a high school graduation party. As the trial opened on September 17, 1979, Hutchins pleaded not guilty following the prosecutor's demand that he receive the death penalty. Days later, the jury found Hutchins guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder. The same jury ruled that Hutchins should die in the state's gas chamber. Presiding Judge Donald Smith set October 12, 1979 as Hutchins' execution date, also referring to Hutchins as “the most dangerous man I’ve ever seen.” Appeals brought an automatic delay. Superior Court Judge Lacy Thornburg later set October 15, 1981 as the date of execution. However, further appeals pushed the date to January 22, 1982. Prior to this scheduled execution date, the state Supreme Court granted a stay so further appeals could be pursued. A new date was set for October 15, 1982; however, this was also delayed by appeals.
On September 8, 1983, a new execution date was set for January 13, 1984. On January 6, leading up to his execution, James Hutchins chose lethal injection as his means of execution. Hutchins was ultimately executed in North Carolina on March 16, 1984.”
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