Police Officer Milton G. Curtis

Milton G. Curtis

Police Officer Milton Curtis and Police Officer Richard Phillips were shot and killed after stopping a vehicle for running a red light.

Unbeknownst to the officers, the suspect had just raped a teenage girl after holding two couples at gunpoint. Both officers were shot and killed while they were writing a ticket.

On January 29th, 2003, 45 years after the murders, the 70 year-old suspect was arrested at his home in Columbia, South Carolina, as the result of a new FBI fingerprint database. The fingerprints were matched to a 1956 South Carolina burglary and linked to the suspect.

The suspect was convicted of both murders on March 24th, 2003, and sentenced to life in prison. He was denied parole in 2009. He will be eligible for parole again in 2017. So he can be near his family, he is serving his sentence in the South Carolina Penitentiary.

Officer Curtis had served with the El Segundo Police Department for two months. He is survived by his wife, son, and daughter.