SCOTT COUNTY (KFSM)- The Scott County Sheriff's Office is investigating after a memorial sign for a fallen sheriff, Cody Carpenter was stolen. Carpenter's wife, Amie found the sign, but investigators are working to find who's responsible.
Family members of the late Cody Carpenter were driving down Highway 71 this week when they noticed the memorial sign gone.
"I was extremely upset," Amie Carpenter, widow said. "I was really mad to think that somebody could do something like that. For someone to not only rip it off the poles, but then just take it and chunk it like it was nothing."
Amie took to social media for help finding the sign. After not getting any leads, she went searching. Amie found the memorial on the bank of the river, the same river where Sheriff Carpenter drowned while trying to save two women in a water rescue during severe flooding in 2013.
"It is kind of a steep bank down in there," Carpenter said. "I found it laying in the water. Someone had thrown it off on the opposite side of the bridge of where the sign was located."
The memorial may look like an average sign to most people, but to the Carpenter family, it means much more than that. Carpenter said every time they pass it, it adds a little light to their day.
"He was a father, a husband, a son and a brother," Carpenter said. "I drive by there and I it's extremely hard for me or for my kids to drive through because it's something etched in your memory forever, but I drive by and I see that sign and I do smile."
The Scott County Sheriff's Office is working to find those responsible. To the deputies in Scott County, the crime they said hits too close to home.
Deputy Bill Carnahan released a statement to 5NEWS:
"The sign was recovered from the east side of the bridge just south of where it was removed from. It appears that it may have been thrown from the bridge. It is being processed for latent fingerprints at the Scott County Sheriff's Office. Anyone with information about who removed the sign should contact our office at 479-637-4155.
When it comes down to it, these are more than just signs. They are reminders of the devotion to duty and selflessness that Cody Carpenter and Joel Campora embodied. Its saddening that someone would show such contempt and disrespect for that."
Joel Campora and Carpenter died while working together on rescue efforts off Highway 71 during severe flooding.
Campora also has a memorial highway sign along Highway 71.
If you have any information about the theft of Carpenter's memorial sign, contact the Scott County Sheriff's Office.
After investigators collect evidence from the sign, it will be put back up.