Families — and a community — are at peace 80 years after the murder of two Albion-area law enforcement officers.
“This Boone county monument dedicated to law enforcement who have died in the line of duty has etched on here that two officers were shot in the line of duty by an unknown assailant,” said Bill Black of the Nebraska Attorney General’s office. “That will no longer be the case 80 years later."
On Tuesday, the attorney general's office announced they believe Marion Cooley and Charles Doody shot Boone County Sheriff Lawrence Smoyer and Constable William Wathen on June 17, 1937. The sheriff died that day; Wathen died 80 years ago to the day.
The Boone County Historical Society opened their archives to show the impact it had on northeast Nebraska.
"These are brothers and sisters to us whether it's 80 years ago or today, if it were to happen," said Phyllis Smoyer-Schroeder, granddaughter of the fallen sheriff.
Cooley and Doody were in a suspicious vehicle near Albion when the shooting occurred.
The men were identified three days after the killings, but Cooley was incarcerated for years, and Doody's whereabouts were unknown.
Witnesses either died, left the area, or went to war, by the time they could've been prosecuted.
“Sure wish we could've looked these guys in the eye and held them responsible in life but I think they'll be held responsible even more after life," Black said.
Smoyer-Schroeder along with many other relatives of both men were in attendance Tuesday. She said they all knew the story and that her uncle, Scout Smoyer, who took over as sheriff when Lawrence died, knew all along who had done it.
"It's such a relief for us to know that he did get vindicated he was right, he knows it and it does make us feel really good because it was important to him," Smoyer-Schroeder said.
