Keota Police Department, Iowa
End of Watch: Friday, June 11, 1976
Age: 22
Tour of Duty: 2 weeks
Badge Number: 54-17
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: June 11, 1976
Weapon Used: Officer's handgun
Suspect Info: Sentenced to life
Marshal Douglas Bell was shot and killed with his own weapon after stopping a stolen vehicle outside of Keota. He had pursued the vehicle on Highway 77 for about three miles outside the town limits before the vehicle stopped.
Fearing that Marshal Bell would discover that the vehicle was stolen, the driver attacked him as the marshal wrote a ticket. He was able to gain control of Marshal Bell's service revolver and shot him six times, reloaded it, and then shot him three more times.
On August 28, 1979, a 21 year-old Iowa Penitentiary inmate was charged with Marshal Bell's murder. He was serving a 10 year sentence for a 1978 kidnapping conviction. He was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life on July 29, 1980.
Marshal Bell had served with the Keota Police Department for two weeks. He is survived by his father, who was a retired sheriff's deputy, his mother, and brother.