Font Size:

Deputy Correctional Officer Kevin Brewer

End of Watch: Saturday, October 14th, 2017

On October 14, 2017, the Will County Sheriffs Office lost a coworker, brother, and friend. Correctional Deputy/ERT Kevin Brewer., 37, was on duty at the Will County Adult Detention Facility and had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance where he subsequently passed away.

Kevin began his career with the Sheriff’s Office on February 26, 2007 and joined the Emergency Response Team on March 22, 2009. Administrators, supervisors, and Kevin’s co-workers, described him as being “truly one of the good guys and a wonderful husband, father and family man,” Kevin was well respected and well-liked by all who knew him.

We extend our sympathies to Kevin’s wife, his daughters, and his entire extended family. The news of his sudden passing has shocked the entire Will County Sheriff’s Office. We will keep Kevin in our hearts forever.

Deputy Raymond Henry Topolewski

End of Watch: Sunday, February 10th, 1985

Will County Sheriff's Deputy, Raymond Topolewski died Sunday night from injuries he sustained in a hit-and-run accident on January 22nd. Deputy Topolewski of Bolingbrook died at 9:34 p.m. at St. Joseph Medical Center, where he had been confined since the accident.

The hit-and-run accident occurred as Deputy Topolewski stood near his squad car in the 100 block of Patterson Road investigating a rape complaint. Deputy Topolewski and another deputy were dispatched to the scene at approximately 9:51 p.m. Both parked their cars off the road. Deputy Topolewski was talking to the complainant as the second deputy, who parked in front of Deputy Topolewski, was walking to join the two. He noticed a car going southbound off the road at a high rate of speed.

The moving car hit Deputy Topolewski's squad car, which then hit the second deputy and spun him around. The moving car then grazed the woman's leg and struck Deputy Topolewski. The car continued south on Patterson Road.

On January 24th, the hit-and-run driver went to the Laraway Road Station to report his vehicle had struck a fence on Woodruff Road the night of the hit-and-run accident. Police arrested him for the accident after questioning. Originally he had been charged with leaving the scene of a personal injury accident and driving under the influence of intoxicants and was free on $1,000 bond. After Deputy Topolewski's death, the Will County State's Attorney's Office filed an additional charge of reckless homicide.

Deputy Topolewski is survived by his mother, also a Will County Sheriff's Deputy, his father, a brother, and a sister.

Auxiliary Sergeant Denis P. Foley

End of Watch: Wednesday, August 17th, 1983

On Saturday July 16, 1983, approximately 3:25 a.m. at 143rd and State - Will County Auxiliary Sergeant Denis Foley and Auxiliary Deputy Stephen Mayer and were mortally wounded in an ambush slaying.

The deputies had been shot in what they thought was going to be a routine stop to help a motorist. They stopped to assist the driver of a pickup truck. The rear of the truck was blocking part of the road, while its front bumper was up against a red car parked in a rutted turn-around area. As the officers approached, their assailant said, "We need a jump,"

When the officers exited Squad 301A, the gunman suddenly shot both of them. Mayer died shortly after being shot; Foley was seriously wounded in the throat. A few minutes later another car came around the curve and slowed down. The gunman opened up on them. The driver was killed; his passenger was shot six times. The car rolled on down the road and into a bean field. Wounded and frightened, the female went looking for help.

The deputies in 301A were in trouble but they couldn't be found and other officers were frantically searching in the darkness of rural Homer Township. Between 3:25 a.m. and 3:40 a.m., county police officers searched for Squad 301A.

Sergeant Foley, badly injured from one bullet that had shattered his mouth and teeth, attempted to speak over Squad 301A's radio microphone. Most of his words were garbled. He couldn't give his location. He was instructed to turn on his siren and shine his spotlight in the air. Meanwhile, a farmer who lived in the area called county police to say he could hear racket behind his buildings, including a siren. Officers met the citizen and less than a minute later, the site of the ambush was located.

After finding the two auxiliary deputies, responding units located the bodies of a 25-year-old female, and a 32-year-old male who had been in the car parked in front of the pickup truck.

The auxiliary officers' guns and wallets were missing. Mayer's body had been dragged across the gravel road and left in a ditch. In a reconstruction of the crime scene, it was determined that before he died, Mayer, as he leaned on 301A, had attempted to flag down the last car that was also ambushed. "Stop! Stop!" he had called out. As he was calling for help, the gunman had zigzagged between the front of the pickup truck and the squad car firing shots at the car. The female survivor saw a man in a uniform shirt shouting at them. She thought the officer was shooting at them.

The killer struck again on July 17, 1983. A young 18 year old spent the day at Great America in Gurnee with his fiancée. On the way home to downstate Emden, they felt tired and pulled over on Interstate 55, at Mile marker 242, to take a nap. The young man was murdered when a bullet crashed through the car's window while he was sleeping. His fiancée was sexually assaulted, stabbed several times and left for dead. The female victim lived to point an eyewitness' finger in court at the killer. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1984.

Another mass murder took place on Aug. 20, 1983, just after 11:00 a.m. Four bodies were located in a ceramic shop on the east side of Joliet. Four females, whose ages ranged from 29 to 75, were brutally murdered.

The killer, on parole from a vicious 1973 rape was arrested at the St. Charles Boremeo Work Release Center in Romeoville, Illinois. He was charged and convicted of the four murders in addition the murder and attack on July 17, 1983. In each case, he was given the death sentence.

The killer was never charged but remains the major suspect in the roadside ambush in which five citizens were murdered, including Will County Sheriff's Auxiliary Deputy Steve Mayer and Will County Sheriff's Auxiliary Sergeant Denis Foley. Hundreds of investigative hours were involved in this case. One of the main pieces of evidence was the receipt found under Mayer's body. It is believed to have blown out of the killer's pickup truck. The receipt was the major piece of evidence that helped to put detectives on the trail of killer.

The Will County State's Attorney left the case open in the event the killer had his previous sentences overturned. On January 11, 2003, outgoing Governor George Ryan commuted the death sentences of all 167 Illinois death-row inmates as one of his last acts in office.

Will County Sheriff's Auxiliary Sergeant Denis Foley was a three-year veteran of the department; his two sons and three daughters survive him. His wife preceded him in death in 1982.

Auxiliary Deputy Steven W. Mayer

End of Watch: Saturday, July 16th, 1983

On Saturday July 16, 1983, approximately 3:25 a.m. at 143rd and State - Will County Auxiliary Deputy Stephen Mayer and Auxiliary Sergeant Denis Foley were mortally wounded in an ambush slaying.

The deputies had been shot in what they thought was going to be a routine stop to help a motorist. They stopped to assist the driver of a pickup truck. The rear of the truck was blocking part of the road, while its front bumper was up against a red car parked in a rutted turn-around area. As the officers approached, their assailant said, "We need a jump,"
When the officers exited Squad 301A, the gunman suddenly shot both of them. Mayer died shortly after being shot; Foley was seriously wounded in the throat. A few minutes later another car came around the curve and slowed down. The gunman opened up on them. The driver was killed; his passenger was shot six times. The car rolled on down the road and into a bean field. Wounded and frightened, the female went looking for help.

The deputies in 301A were in trouble but they couldn't be found and other officers were frantically searching in the darkness of rural Homer Township. Between 3:25 a.m. and 3:40 a.m., county police officers searched for Squad 301A.

Sergeant Foley, badly injured from one bullet that had shattered his mouth and teeth, attempted to speak over Squad 301A's radio microphone. Most of his words were garbled. He couldn't give his location. He was instructed to turn on his siren and shine his spotlight in the air. Meanwhile, a farmer who lived in the area called county police to say he could hear racket behind his buildings, including a siren. Officers met the citizen and less than a minute later, the site of the ambush was located.

After finding the two auxiliary deputies, responding units located the bodies of a 25-year-old female, and a 32-year-old male who had been in the car parked in front of the pickup truck.

The auxiliary officers' guns and wallets were missing. Mayer's body had been dragged across the gravel road and left in a ditch. In a reconstruction of the crime scene, it was determined that before he died, Mayer, as he leaned on 301A, had attempted to flag down the last car that was also ambushed. "Stop! Stop!" he had called out. As he was calling for help, the gunman had zigzagged between the front of the pickup truck and the squad car firing shots at the car. The female survivor saw a man in a uniform shirt shouting at them. She thought the officer was shooting at them.

The killer struck again on July 17, 1983. A young 18 year old spent the day at Great America in Gurnee with his fiancée. On the way home to downstate Emden, they felt tired and pulled over on Interstate 55, at Mile marker 242, to take a nap. The young man was murdered when a bullet crashed through the car's window while he was sleeping. His fiancée was sexually assaulted, stabbed several times and left for dead. The female victim lived to point an eyewitness' finger in court at the killer. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1984.

Another mass murder took place on Aug. 20, 1983, just after 11:00 a.m. Four bodies were located in a ceramic shop on the east side of Joliet. Four females, whose ages ranged from 29 to 75, were brutally murdered.

The killer, on parole from a vicious 1973 rape was arrested at the St. Charles Boremeo Work Release Center in Romeoville, Illinois. He was charged and convicted of the four murders in addition the murder and attack on July 17, 1983. In each case, he was given the death sentence.

The killer was never charged but remains the major suspect in the roadside ambush in which five citizens were murdered, including Will County Sheriff's Auxiliary Deputy Steve Mayer and Will County Sheriff's Auxiliary Sergeant Denis Foley. Hundreds of investigative hours were involved in this case. One of the main pieces of evidence was the receipt found under Mayer's body. It is believed to have blown out of the killer's pickup truck. The receipt was the major piece of evidence that helped to put detectives on the trail of killer.

The Will County State's Attorney left the case open in the event the killer had his previous sentences overturned. On January 11, 2003, the outgoing governor, George Ryan, commuted the death sentences of all 167 Illinois death-row inmates.

Will County Sheriff's Auxiliary Deputy Steve Mayer was a one year veteran of the department; He is survived by his new bride of two weeks, his father who is Sergeant with the Will County Sheriff's Department, his mother and his siblings.

Deputy Walter Fisher

End of Watch: Wednesday, April 14th, 1926

Walter Fisher was a Will County Deputy Sheriff who was murdered in 1926. At the time, Fisher and his wife, Ethel, lived in Mokena with their two small daughters. They ran a little grocery store there and lived in an apartment at the back of the store. He worked part time for the Sheriff’s Office.

On April 14, 1926, a gunman stopped a doctor driving down a country road on his way to see a patient in Mokena. The gunman, who was carrying three bags of money stolen from a mail truck, took the doctor’s black Ford. The doctor ran to a nearby farmhouse and called Deputy Fisher at the grocery store. Fisher, accompanied by a friend, took off looking for the stolen Ford. But they had no idea that the car thief had made a $37,000 payroll robbery and had already murdered his partner.

Fisher spotted the stolen Ford near Orland Park and a chase started, with the Deputy’s friend driving. As they got closer to the fleeing Ford, Fisher fired several shots smashing the rear window. They pulled alongside the Ford and Fisher ordered the driver to stop.  But the driver of the Ford pulled out two revolvers and emptied them at the Deputy. Fisher was hit six times. Both cars stopped and the gunman ran into a field.

The Deputy mumbled, “He got me. Get help.” His friend drove away. But the Deputy died, while his friend was searching for medical help. Meanwhile, the killer had returned to the stolen Ford and escaped.
Police later found several empty shells under a willow tree in a field. The killer had obviously reloaded his revolvers there.

Eventually police connected the killer to the mail truck robbery. A week later, postal authorities arrested Daniel Hesley, who had some of the stolen cash with him. The Chicago man was convicted of the mail truck robbery and sentenced to a federal prison, where he served 17 years. In 1943, the killer started serving his state sentence at Statesville for the murder of Deputy Fisher.