Correctional Officer James Kenneth DeLoach

James Kenneth DeLoach

Correctional Officer James DeLoach was shot and killed when he was identified as a correctional officer after stopping to pick up a hitchhiker on the shoulder of an interstate at about 1:00 am.

He had left his shift early at the Lorton Reformatory, in Lorton, Virginia, when he began to feel ill. He was driving home on I-395 when he observed a hitchhiker near the exit for Edsall Road in Fairfax County. He was still wearing his uniform when he stopped to assist the man off the highway. The subject, who was a recent parolee, shot Officer DeLoach twice in the chest with a .32 caliber handgun and then stole his car.

Officer DeLoach was able to wave down a passing motorist but collapsed before giving a statement. He was taken to Fairfax Hospital where he died a short time later.

The man who shot him abandoned his car on Lorton Road near the prison. He was arrested in March 1968 and charged with murder. He was convicted of second-degree murder in March 1969 and sentenced to 20 years in prison with eight years suspended.

Officer DeLoach was a U.S. Army veteran of both WWII and the Korean War as well as a recipient of the Army Commendation Medal. He had served at the Lorton Reformatory for three months and had previously served as a guard for the Smithsonian Institution. He was survived by his wife, mother, and two brothers. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.