Sheriff Dale E. Nelson

Dale E. Nelson

Sheriff Dale Nelson died after being exposed to lethal doses of methane while attempting to rescue a father and son who had also become overtaken by the methane gas in a concrete manure pit on Roberts Dairy Farm along State Route 12.

All three men fell face first into the manure and drowned. Another man who entered the pit with Sheriff Nelson was also overcome by the fumes but was rescued after falling with his face up.

Sheriff Nelson was a U.S. Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War. He had served with the Beaver County Sheriff's Office for 14 years and was survived by his wife and three children.