Deputy Sheriff Jack B. Mills

Jack B. Mills

Deputy Sheriff Jack Mills was shot and killed while checking a wrecked pickup truck on Highway 23.

Deputy Mills, along with the sheriff and two other deputies, had responded to the scene after receiving reports of a crash at about 2:00 am. They arrested one man at the scene for public drunkenness and were told by the man that a gun was in the cab of the truck. When Deputy Mills approached the truck to retrieve the gun he was ambushed by the arrested man's brother, who was hiding in the cab. The man shot Deputy Mills three times in the chest with a 9 mm handgun. He then fired on the other deputies before fleeing across a field. He was arrested later that morning and charged with murder. His brother was charged as an accessory to murder.

Deputy Mills' killer was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life on October 11, 1958.

Deputy Mills had served with the Knox County Sheriff's Office for five months. He was survived by his wife and five children. On December 9, 1959, his wife and two of his children were killed in a fire at their home. On October 27, 1963, his son was killed in a head-on collision near the place where his father was killed.