2022 Fallen Officers Memorial Ceremony

Officer Brandon M. Stalker
Toledo Police Department
End of Watch: Jan. 18, 2021
Memorial Wall: Panel 15

With the two things Officer Stalker loved most, his family and career, blossoming side by side, the future was wide-open and full of promise for the 24-year-old.

He talked often about his two young children, his fiancée and their upcoming wedding, and his passion for his calling as a police officer was just as obvious. Life was good, and his constant smile and unfailing sense of humor said as much.

Family and friends say he went out of his way to make everybody’s day brighter, an attitude that not only shaped his personality but influenced his police work as well.

“Every single day when we went out on patrol, Brandon was all about trying to serve the community,” said his first partner, Officer Brent Kieffer. “He truly wanted to make the community a better place.”

Officer Kieffer recalled a delivery they made just before Christmas in 2019. A community member had donated new winter coats after learning of two young sisters who desperately needed them, and the lieutenant in charge of roll call asked the two officers to drop them off as they began their shift.

The girls’ reaction delighted Officer Stalker.

“For the rest of the night and for the next couple of days, that’s about all he talked about,” Officer Kieffer said. “It was great to see how heartwarming it was for him.”

A photo the girls’ mother took of that moment of joy remains on the Toledo Police Department’s Facebook page, a memory both sweet and tragic now.

Not even two years after he graduated from the academy, Officer Stalker was fatally shot as he and other officers surrounded a house where a suspect had barricaded himself for hours.

When police fired tear gas into the house, the suspect — wanted in connection with arson and vandalism at Rosary Cathedral earlier in the day — ran out and began firing two guns. One bullet struck Stalker, who was behind a police SUV.

Officers returned fire, killing the man.

“Brandon was just a happy guy who was willing to do anything for anybody,” said Sgt. Leslie Cook, who supervised his academy class, worked as his shift supervisor and served in the honor guard at his funeral. “He would literally give you his shirt off his back.”

Officer Stalker was the second officer from the 2018-19 Toledo Police Academy class to die in the line of duty; six months earlier, Officer Anthony Dia was shot and killed in a Home Depot parking lot.

Officer Kieffer was amazed by the maturity his partner demonstrated. Although both graduated from the same academy class, Officer Kieffer was 38 with more than a decade of experience at a Colorado police agency.

“It was just incredible how put-together Brandon was,” he said. “Most 22-year-olds tend to need more guidance when they’re brand-new. And this job is a lot to take in, so they tend to struggle a bit. But he was always trying to pick my brain, always asking questions, always learning.”

Sgt. Cook saw the same trait in Stalker.

“He took constructive criticism as a positive, with appreciation,” she said. “He truly wanted to be the best he could be.”

Officer Stalker was a Toledo native who played baseball at Whitmer High School and later served as an assistant coach there until a change in work hours forced him to give it up.

“Mentoring was one of his true passions,” Officer Kieffer said, “especially in baseball.”

In addition, Officer Stalker enjoyed bowling and riding his motorcycle, and especially looked forward to family events.

He left behind his fiancée, Ashley Ohmer; their infant son, Grayson; a daughter from a previous relationship, Kennah Miller-Stalker; his parents, David and Cosette Stalker; his sister, Crystal Morgan; his special sisters, Madisyn and Macie Traczyk, his brothers, Tyler Stalker and Billy Morgan; a niece, Madyson; a nephew, Mickael; his fiancée’s parents, Dave and Brandy Ohmer, his grandparents, William David (Joan) Lowe and Barbara Grover; and many aunts, uncles, cousins, and other extended family members.

“As dark as this job is at times, it can be tough to always stay motivated and happy,” Officer Kieffer said. “We see a lot of things people should never see. But if Brandon ever had a bad day, he never showed it.”

Deputy Donald R. Gilreath III
Hamilton County Sheriff's Office
End of Watch: Feb. 12, 2021
Memorial Wall: Panel 16

Like law enforcement officers everywhere, Deputy Gilreath didn’t have the luxury of retreating to the safety of his home when the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside-down in 2020.

While much of society quarantined, he continued his duties as a jail service deputy at the Hamilton County Justice Center, where he oversaw the control room and came into contact with everyone who entered and left the building.

Whether greeting jail officials, lawyers or visitors coming to see prisoners, he went out of his way to make people feel good, always offering a kind word and a laugh.

“He was great at his job because he always had a funny comment,” said Deputy Paul Brannen, a colleague at the Justice Center who made a habit of stopping by the visitor’s entrance during his breaks. “He was an upbeat person, never got disgruntled. He was nice to everybody, without fail.”

Others who knew Deputy Gilreath shared the sentiment.

Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey said Deputy Gilreath’s outgoing personality made him a well-loved member of the department during the deputy’s 15 years there. Soon after his death, she said, a steady stream of people arrived at the jail to express their grief and their sorrow for the department’s loss.

Deputy Gilreath, 36, died of complications of the coronavirus. He had served the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office with distinction as a corrections officer since April 7, 2005. Sheriff McGuffey determined that Deputy Gilreath contracted the virus while working his post – and, therefore, died in the line of duty.

The deputy’s playful nature and sense of humor are what immediately struck people when they met him, but his love of family is what truly defined him.

“Donny devoted his whole life to his wife and children,” Deputy Brannen said. “He married his high school sweetheart, and there wasn’t a better husband and father. Some parents are never in their kids’ lives, but Donny was there for them all the time.”

Deputy Brannen recalled how devastated his friend was when his work schedule changed from eight-hour to 12-hour shifts.

“He would always catch his kids’ games — he never missed anything they had going on,” he said. “ But with the new hours, that wasn’t always possible anymore.”

A Cincinnati native, Gilreath attended St. Saviour School in Deer Park and graduated in 2003 from Archbishop Moeller High School. While at Moeller, he was a “big brother” to a teen whose father was in prison. The “little brother,” said Deputy Gilreath’s wife, Sarah, is now a successful heavy-equipment operator and a married father of two who “remembers Donny fondly and is grateful for the time spent with him.”

Faith was a big part of Deputy Gilreath’s life. He met Sarah when they were teenagers, through friends at a local Catholic festival. Together, they raised three children — son Cameron, now in high school, and younger daughters Haley and Avery. And every Sunday, the family attended church – “never missed it,” Deputy Brannen said.

He loved hunting and fishing and especially loved coaching his son in baseball and football.

“When Donny loved something, he loved it full-force,” his sister Katy Kendall wrote in remarks delivered by a relative at the deputy’s service.

In addition to his wife, children and sister, Deputy Gilreath left behind his parents, Donald Raymond Jr. and Pamela Gilreath; a second sister, Kelly Elizabeth Gilreath; and many nieces, nephews and extended family.

“This is how awesome a person Donny was,” Deputy Brannen said. “When he was in the hospital, he took time to call me. With all that was going on, he thought of me. He said things seemed to be going pretty good – just running tests. A couple of days later, he passed away.

“It’s a shame. Good people like that, you just want them to be able to have a full life with their family. He was just a great dude.”

Natural Resources Officer Jason S. Lagore
Ohio Department of Natural Resources - Division of Parks and Watercraft
End of watch: Feb. 23, 2021
Memorial Wall: Panel 17

Officer Lagore’s friend and longtime boss remembers working a call with him many years ago, when Jason was only a couple of years into his job at Caesar Creek State Park.

The two were along a stretch of the Little Miami River, each having responded to an alert that a child was playing in the water without a guardian in sight.

“I rolled up first,” said Shannon Hoffer, at the time a District Preserve manager with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and now an ODNR lieutenant. “Jason heard the radio traffic and came to help.”

As Hoffer cautiously directed the girl safely across a calm, shallow portion of the river, he became aware of an odd rumbling sound.

“As the little girl made her way to the riverbank, I kept hearing the noise. Then it dawned on me that the noise was coming from Jason. I turned to look at him, and he was growling, literally growling. You could see the fury in his eyes. ‘This is crazy,’ he said. ‘This kid is all alone. She could have drowned out here.’”

Things didn’t get any calmer when the 9-year-old told the officers that her dad had been drinking and taking pills and was passed out at a spot farther up the river.

When they eventually found and confronted him, Officer Lagore’s first words were, “Where’s your little girl?” The father had no clue.

“So Jason gets in his face and tells him: ‘You’re not only getting a ticket. You’re getting arrested for everything I can arrest you for,’ ” Lt. Hoffer recalled. “It was a proud moment. True to who he was, nothing upset Jason more than a child in harm’s way.”

Those who knew him best say Officer Lagore was driven by a simple desire to help people.

“He was a very passionate, very caring person,” said his wife, Michelle, who met her true love in high school. “And it really showed in his everyday life and in his work. He loved the job, loved what he did. He couldn’t have been happier. The K-9 program he started at ODNR was his dream come true.”

In February 2021, Officer Lagore and his K-9 partner, Sarge, were helping with a search operation at Rocky Fork State Park in Highland County when he suffered a heart attack and fell into the lake. The 15-year ODNR veteran, 36, was pulled out by other first responders but later died.

He had been called to help in the recovery of a 16-year-old girl who had jumped into the ice-covered lake to save her younger brother. The 13-year-old boy survived thanks to her efforts, but his sister disappeared under the ice, her body recovered hours later.

In an interview years before that tragic day, Officer Lagore explained what his work as a K-9 trainer and handler meant to him.

“This isn’t a job,’’ he said. “It’s a mission, a calling. It’s a way to get some grieving family an answer to a mystery and tragedy more quickly.”

ODNR posthumously honored Officer Lagore with the Director’s Award of Valor.

“Because of his courage and bravery in the face of danger, there is no one more deserving of this honor,” ODNR Director Mary Mertz said. “I am proud of the work he did and the legacy he leaves behind.”

Officer Lagore joined ODNR in 2005 and six years later persuaded his bosses at the Division of Parks and Watercraft to allow him to train and team up with a K-9 partner bought with his own money. He and his first dog, a yellow Labrador retriever named Ranger, proved invaluable in missing person searches and cadaver recoveries, and it wasn’t long before Officer Lagore was urging ODNR to add K-9 teams — a vision that began to take shape in 2017 when he organized the department’s first K-9 academy. ODNR now has 10 K-9 units across the state.

In 2015, Lt. Hoffer became Officer Lagore’s supervisor and watched as his friend built the K-9 program.

“He did it all himself, and we couldn’t have had a better person. He was patient, a good all-around person, a good officer, and he knew what he was doing.”

Officer Lagore, a Chillicothe native, graduated from Zane Trace High School and Hocking College. He and Michelle married in 2007 and had two sons, Fynn and Henry. Nothing was more important than family time, which usually included a yellow Lab in the mix.

“Jason always said our dogs had a good on-off switch,” Michelle said. “When they were at work, they were at work. When they were home, they knew they were at home.”

In addition to his wife and two young sons, he left behind his mother, Sharon K. Lutz Poole; brother, Paul Thomas (Eliza) Lagore; mother-in-law, Lorna Dozmati; father-in-law, Brett Dozmati; and grandmother, Julie Lutz.

Sarge, Officer Lagore’s second K-9 partner, is retired and living with Michelle and the boys. Ranger was laid to rest in January 2021, less than two months before his master.

Officer Scott R. Dawley
Nelsonville Police Department
End of watch: Aug. 3, 2021
Memorial Wall: Panel 18

Officer Dawley grew up in Nelsonville, attended school there and patrolled its streets for seven years. He knew everybody, and everybody knew him. More than a police officer, he was a neighbor and a friend, well-liked and respected. In a city so small and tightknit, the shock of his death reverberated in every corner of town.

“He loved his community, and the community loved him back,” said Matt Yinger, himself a lifelong Nelsonville resident. “The outpouring of grief and support was overwhelming.”

Yinger, the attendance officer for Nelsonville-York City Schools, worked with Officer Dawley on occasion and developed a closer friendship with him over the years at the city pool, where they frequently ran into each other.

“You never saw a guy happier than Scott when he and Marissa were playing with their kids at the pool,” he said.

Officer Dawley and Marissa Vegeto met through an online dating site in 2019 and married two years later, the union resulting in a combined family of seven kids. Their life together was everything they both wanted.

“They were a great couple and great parents,” said Debbie Brown, Officer Dawley’s aunt. “Shortly after they married, Scott said to me, ‘I didn’t know I could be this happy.’ I will be eternally grateful to Marissa for bringing him the joy and happiness that she did.”

Tragically, less than 15 weeks after their April wedding, Officer Dawley died in a three-vehicle crash while responding, with lights and sirens on, to a report of gunfire on the east side of town. He was the lone fatality.

Yinger said the people of Nelsonville had “the utmost respect” for the 43-year-old officer because he dedicated his career to serving his fellow residents. His soft-spoken, friendly, easygoing nature just added to his appeal.

Marissa Dawley said that even people her husband had escorted to jail would go out of their way to greet him around town – a kindness repeated on the day of his funeral, as the hearse made its way to the cemetery past hundreds of residents lining the streets.

“I know for a fact that a few of those folks in the crowd were people Scott had arrested over the years,” she said.

Officer Dawley was the second-most-senior member of the 10-officer Nelsonville department and was on track for promotion to sergeant. He helped with field training, served as the firearms instructor, and welcomed the chance to mentor younger colleagues.

“He brought a lot of knowledge and experience to the job and really helped me out as a new officer,” said Alex Mount, who worked with Officer Dawley for about 18 months and has since moved to another law enforcement agency. “He’s a big reason the department is as successful as it is.”

Qualities that made Officer Dawley such a good cop and colleague – patience, compassion, a naturally happy disposition – also made him an amazing husband and father, his wife said.

“He wore so many hats, and he wore them all so well.”

He loved coaching his son’s baseball team and never missed any of the kids’ sporting events. When they weren’t at the pool, he would take the family on picnics or to the family farm, where he taught them to ride horses and bail hay. Weekend nights were often spent playing video games with the boys.

Among the memories she treasures, Marissa Dawley said, is the image of her 9-year-old daughter dutifully giving her husband a makeover, complete with fingernail and toenail polish, layers of makeup, and scrunchies “in the little bit of hair that he had.”

Like the childhood he wanted to give his kids, Officer Dawley’s youth was active and happy. He was involved in Scouting with his brother and cousins for many years, ultimately achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Competitive dirt bike racing was another shared family interest.

He attended Nelsonville-York High School, where he played drums in the band, and later earned his associate degree in criminal justice from Hocking College while juggling multiple jobs.

Besides his wife, Officer Dawley is survived by his children, Taylor, Bryanna, Ashton, Paige, Ava, Evan and Keira; his father, Edward “Russ” Dawley; his brother, Don Dawley; grandfather, Edward “Jim” Dawley; and several other aunts, uncles, cousins and extended family members.

Officer Shane H. Bartek
Cleveland Division of Police
End of watch: Dec. 31, 2021
Memorial Wall: Panel 19

The impact made by police officers is as likely to happen in the shadows as it is in the spotlight. A kind word. A helping hand. A gentle warning. Any such interaction might not make front-page or late-night news, but sometimes it’s enough to affect a person’s life. Officer Bartek lived to have that kind of impact.

His first partner, Officer Neil Hocking, remembers when the two stopped their car to check on a man who seemed disoriented and disturbed – a veteran, it turned out, who had become addicted to drugs and was threatening suicide.

“Shane and this guy got along well. They really connected,” Officer Hocking said. “So we were able to calm him down, reassure him and then take him to the VA hospital.”

A relationship developed that day. After being discharged from the hospital, the former Navy aircraft mechanic, grateful for Officer Bartek’s compassion, contacted him at the 5th District station to thank him for his help and concern. They exchanged cellphone numbers, and the two stayed in touch periodically for the remainder of the officer’s short life.

“That’s the perfect example of who Shane Bartek was,” Officer Hocking said. “He genuinely cared.”

Officer Bartek’s second partner, Officer Mike Wheeler, remembers how emotional the calls were at times. “The guy told Shane that he gave him hope when everyone else turned their back,” he said.

Officer Bartek, 25, was off-duty when he was killed during a carjacking at a West Side apartment complex on New Year’s Eve, just 28 months after he joined the Cleveland Division of Police.

Police said an 18-year-old woman ambushed the officer, shot him twice during a struggle for her gun, then fled in his car, which was recovered later that night after a police chase. She was arrested a short time later. The woman faces multiple charges, including aggravated murder.

City officials ruled that Officer Bartek died in the line of duty because he used his police training to try to subdue his assailant.

“Even in his last moments of life, he was brave,” said the officer’s twin sister, Summer. “I’m so proud of him. Most people in a situation like that would be scared and run away, but my brother was just a brave man, and I’ll always have so much respect for that.”

Selfless, kind and compassionate, her brother embodied the values their parents lived by, she said.

Ronald and Debra Bartek adopted Shane and Summer when they were 3, welcoming them into a loving home that included the Barteks’ son and the twins’ new brother, Eric.

“It was just fate that we were meant to be with them,” Summer said. “They raised us to be kind human beings. Our family grew up on the belief that we have to help people and go the extra mile for them. It’s in our Bartek DNA.”

True to his family’s principles, Officer Bartek was constantly extending himself. He spent time at a child-care center in the Collingwood neighborhood, where he would read to and play with kids. And his partners remember him taking time to chat with teenagers he met, occasionally even throwing a football or shooting baskets with them. One particular source of joy for Officer Bartek was Shop with a Cop, a Christmastime gift-buying program that pairs police with kids who have witnessed crimes or been victims themselves.

Another story of his kindness surfaced after the officer’s funeral, when several officers spoke of an older woman who had visited the calling hours to extend her condolences to the family. She didn’t know the officer, but somewhere in the past he had crossed paths with her grandson and took an interest in his welfare.

Officer Megan Hollenbeck, who went through the police academy with Officer Bartek and became a close friend, heard that he had called the youth on the very day the officer was killed. The grandmother wanted the family to know that.

Officer Bartek grew up in Middleburg Heights, attended Berea-Midpark High School and earned a degree from the University of Cincinnati. From an early age, he wanted to be a police officer and aspired to become a detective. He was enthusiastic about so many things – family, work, travel, wine, soccer – and his humor, charisma and concern were magnets that attracted a wide circle of friends.

Officer Hollenbeck said Shane was always laughing, always joking, but was also a good listener and confidant. More than anything else, he wanted to make a difference.

“He would tell me how much he wanted to touch other people’s lives so he could actually make an impact. And he did that. He was a cop’s cop, that’s for sure.”

At Officer Bartek’s funeral, Cleveland Chief of Police Dornat "Wayne” Drummond remembered him as a true public servant.

“I can say without a doubt that if I could create a template of what this city needs as a police officer, it would be Patrol Officer Shane Bartek.”

In addition to his mother, sister and brother, Officer Bartek left behind his grandmother, Gloria Bartek, and many extended family members and friends. His father, Ronald Bartek, died in 2018.

Deputy Rex E. Faux
Summit County Sheriff's Office
End of Watch: July 16, 1933
Memorial Wall: Panel 20

Deputies Rex Faux and Francis Kidder had been dispatched to the Loyal Oak area late on Saturday, July 15, 1933, to search for two men who matched the description of gunmen who earlier that evening robbed a customer at a Northfield gas station.
 
Their search unsuccessful, Deputy Faux was driving back to Akron about 1 a.m. Sunday when the steering mechanism on the patrol car failed. The car swerved off Akron-Wadsworth Road and crashed into a concrete culvert at Wolf Creek. Deputy Kidder, who regained consciousness at dawn, eventually pulled himself from the wreckage and waved down a passing motorist, who drove both officers to St. Thomas Hospital, where Deputy Faux was pronounced dead. He was 29. Deputy Kidder would later recover from a broken arm and cuts on his head and feet.
 
Deputy Faux had been on duty for nearly 24 hours, having transported a convicted murderer early Saturday to the Ohio State Penitentiary in downtown Columbus. The car he and Deputy Kidder were using later that day was one usually assigned to Summit County Sheriff Ray Potts and the only one available when they were called out on the search. The sheriff reportedly had warned the county commissioners just the week before about the need to replace several department cars — including that particular car because it “had gone over 75,000 miles and was plainly unsafe for the hard driving required in an emergency.”
 
Deputy Faux was survived by his ex-wife, Henrietta Faux Sumner, and their 9-year-old son, Robert. He is buried in Wooster.
 
As the years passed and one generation replaced another in the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Faux’s tragic death faded from memory there. In fact, Sheriff Steve Barry, now retired, believed that no Summit County deputy had ever died in the line of duty. He joined the department in January 1979 and later served eight years as sheriff, but not until 2020, when he happened to review the national Officer Down Memorial website, did he learn of Deputy Faux’s death.
 
Occasionally, law enforcement agencies learn of peace officers who died in the line of duty long ago but never received the recognition they deserved. Appropriately, their names are added to the Ohio Fallen Officers Memorial Wall when the lapse is discovered.