Sheriff Ray Compton

Ray Compton

Sheriff Ray Compton was shot and killed while attempting to serve a search warrant at a home in the Circleville area as part of an investigation involving illegal liquor stills.

As Sheriff Compton and two deputies entered the home, the homeowner ran up the stairs. Sheriff Compton ran up the stairs after him but was shot by the man as he reached the top.

The suspect escaped but later committed suicide after being involved in a shootout with Cincinnati, Ohio, officers. At the time of Sheriff Compton's murder, the suspect was an escapee from several murders committed in Iowa and Missouri.

The house Sheriff Compton was murdered in was on the same road on which Patrolman Walter Garrison, of the Rushville Police Department, was shot and killed February 3rd, 1931.