05/06/2025
In memory of our fallen trooper who made the ultimate sacrifice on this day in 1927:
Corporal Sam Mapes
December 16, 1893 - May 1, 1927
Cpl. Sam Mapes was killed while investigating a vehicle believed to be transporting illegal liquor.
In the afternoon of May 1, 1927, Corporal Mapes stopped two vehicles suspected of hauling bootleg liquor. The driver of one of the cars offered Corporal Mapes a bribe of $300. Corporal Mapes refused the bribe, stopped a motorist and asked him to call for assistance. While Corporal Mapes was talking to the motorist, the suspect came up behind him, grabbed his weapon, and fired point blank range into Corporal Mape’s body. The assailant took the mortally wounded officer’s weapon and fled.
The suspect was apprehended in Chicago, Illinois, after an amazing investigation conducted in Michigan and Illinois. He was convicted by a jury of Corporal Mapes’ murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Southern Michigan Prison at Jackson.
Corporal Mapes was the seventh MSP officer to die in the line of duty.
