Berendes, Earl

BERENDES

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 11/28/2007 at 16:31:13

Bellevue Herald-Leader
October 4, 2007

Earl Berendes, 60, Bellevue Police Chief, was murdered during a botched robbery by a couple of small time criminals. Berendes is believed to be the only law enforcement officer to lose his life in the line of duty in Jackson County.

The sixty-year old police officer was struck with a shovel recovered at the scene after he walked into the Achen Chevrolet building on North Second Street to investigate a break in.

The auto dealership and garage had been broken into several times previous to the fatal attack on Berendes. The first break in was $200 in cash and $500 in tools stolen. Nothing was apparently taken in the second break in.

After that first break in overhead fluorescent lights were left on in the garage and they were on Thursday morning when the murder was discovered.

Richard E. Schmitz, 27, the man who killed Police Chief Berendes, and his accomplice, William Patrick Sweeney, 22, were quickly arrested, in part from a tip from a bartender who remembered the strangers at his bar just days before the murder.

Schmitz had a mouth on him. When the bartender offered to help him find who they were looking for on North Second Street Schmitz gave him a surly, “No names, buddy.”

The chief’s murder shocked the community deeply. Berendes has been a well known personality in Bellevue, he first went to work for the city in 1954 as a part time employee. In 1960 he became a police officer and by the next year he was chief, named to the position by Mayor Bud Kinmouth. He held the position until he was killed sometime before 1:30 a.m. that night in April, 1969.

It’s hard to remember at this distance from the tragedy, but until quite recently our utility crew also served as local radio control for Bellevue law enforcement. Berendes had checked in with Ray Beschen the operator at the utility’s electrical generating plant sometime around midnight that night.

When the chief failed to stop by his home for a 1:30 a.m. cup of coffee Mrs. Berendes became concerned, and then alarmed when he didn’t return home at 6 a.m. That was when she notified other officers.

His funeral service at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church here in Bellevue brought law enforcement officials from around the area. More than 40 officers acted as a honor guard for the service. The funeral cortege included the mayor, council, fire department and the Bellevue Knights of Columbus, where Berendes had been a member.