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| In Memory of Deputy Brandy Winfield, a son, a husband, a father, a friend, and a dear person who will be extremely missed. |
| Brandy and Landon |
| Thursday, October 14th, 2004 issue of the Marion Star - Deputy Killed Following a 3:59 a.m. cell phone call from a passerby about a stopped vehicle, Dep. Brandy Winfiedl drove to Ohio 423 south of Benzler-Lust Road six miles outside of Marion to check ou a white 1993 Chevrolet van that was stopped and abandoned on the road, said Marion County Sheriff Tim Bailey. Winfiled, 29, determined, with help from dispatchers, that two Hispanic males had just left the Duke station a few miles south of the van in Waldo. Then, at about 4:43 a.m., Bailey said, Winfield called two men walking along the rad and he stopped then and called in their personal information. "That was the last we heard of him," Bailey said. When officials from the Sheriff's Office and the Marion City Police Department went looking for Winfield, they found his cruiser top side down in a favine south of where the van was stopped at 5:03 a.m. He had been shot and was still in the cruiser. Stofcheck Ambulance Service took him to Marion General Hospital. "He was pronounced dead by an apparent gunshot wound," Bailey said. Winfield was a six-year veteran fo the Sherifff's Office road patrol. He is survived by a wife and two children. His father and brother are officers with the Marion City Police Department. (On Friday, October 15th, at about 9:25 p.m. Juan Cruz was caught. Cruz is the suspected shooter and is currently being held on a $1 million dollar bond. The Prosecutor is seeking the death penalty in this case.) |
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| Thursday Sept. 8th, 2005 - Issue of the Marion Star Cruz pleads guilty in deputy's slaying Juan C. Cruz was sentenced in Marion County Common Pleas Court today to a term of life imprisonment. Cruz, 21, of Delaware, will not be eligible for parole for 43 years following his guilty plea in the murder of Marion County Sheriff's Deputy Brandy Lyn Winfield. According to Marion County Prosecutor Jim Slagle, Cruz pleaded guilty to aggravated murder with capital specifications and aggravated robbery with a firearm specification. |