On Patrol (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

The episode recounts the 1997 murder of Officer Danny Longstreet in Higginson, Arkansas. Investigator Sergeant J.R. Howard follows several l

Key takeaways

• Officer Danny Longstreet was ambushed while sitting in his patrol car at 5:20 a.m.
• A license plate number belonging to Dale Miller was found written on the officer's hand.

Main topics

• Police ambush investigation
• Insurance fraud motive

Notable quotes

He knew that because of that, he was going to be under a lot of pressure to solve this case and quick.

Conclusion

A chilling reminder of how even a calculated crime can be undone by a

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) One night in March of 1997, a man sat inside of his car outside of the Higginson Arkansas police station, staring down at this muddy black plastic case. So a few days earlier, a local police officer had been murdered here. And so far, no one could figure out who did it. The police were asking all around town for information, but it was one dead end after another. But now, this man who had recently come into possession of this case, he knew that what was inside of this thing? would solve the murder. But before we get into today's story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right place because that's all we do. So if that's of interest to you, please invite the follow button to join you on a big fishing trip with a bunch of your friends. But don't tell them, they are the fish bait. Okay, let's get into today's story. Speaker 1 (1:12) Early in the morning on March 14th, 1997, a 39-year-old man named Danny Longstreet woke up to his alarm clock in the town of Higginson, Arkansas. Danny reached over and turned the alarm off before it woke his wife Mary up, who was sleeping right next to him. And then as quietly as he could, he got out of bed and walked over to his closet and he got dressed in his uniform, which was a police uniform. So Danny was one of just two full-time police officers in Higginson, which was tiny. It had a population of just barely over 300. He joined the force less than a year ago, after spending 20 years in the army. And so far, he loved it. Danny really cared about his community and felt good about, you know, keeping people safe. Now, there wasn't a lot of crime in Higginson, so his shifts were usually pretty slow, especially this early in the morning. And then when anything did happen, it almost always was pretty minor and tended to involve the same few people every time. And so after getting dressed, Danny left his room and he headed towards the kitchen. being careful to be quiet as he made his way through the house so he didn't wake up his three daughters. Once he got there, he ate a quick breakfast, and then when the clock hit 3.20 a.m., he cleaned his dishes, grabbed his jacket, and he headed out the door to start the day. Speaker 1 (2:24) A little over an hour later, around 4.30 a.m., Danny drove his patrol car down Highway 11, which was the main road that ran through town. It was still dark, and just like always, his shift so far had been very quiet. He'd driven around a bit and run registration checks on a few cars. The only vaguely exciting thing was that one of the plates he'd checked wasn't actually registered to the car it was on. But the car was gone by the time he had the information, so he'd just written down the plate number to look into it later. Now, up ahead, he could see that some lights were on in this roadside cafe. And he knew it was his friend Hazel Riley, who always worked the morning shift at this cafe. And so when Danny passed by, he slowed down and he flashed his lights as a greeting. And through the window, he could see Hazel look up and wave hello. After that, Danny drove a few blocks further down the road, and he stopped at the corner of Highway 11 and Baker Street. There was a local school bus stop there, and lately there had been reports of people passing the bus illegally. So Danny wanted to wait there and see if that happened. And so Danny pulled off the road, and he parked in a vacant lot right by the intersection, and then he cut the engine. And he was still sitting there almost an hour later when around 5.20 a.m., out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something move outside the passenger window. He turned, and he saw a figure standing in the darkness right next to his car. And they suddenly raised a handgun. Speaker 1 (3:50) Seconds later, that cafe worker, Hazel Riley, was startled by the sound of three loud popping noises coming from somewhere off in the distance. She wasn't sure if it was a car backfiring or if they were gunshots. So she went outside to see what was going on. And when she squinted down the dark road, she could just barely make out Danny's patrol car sitting at an intersection a few blocks away. And Hazel was relieved because now she could go tell Danny what she heard in case that was gunfire. You know, she would want Danny to go investigate. However, when Hazel left her cafe and actually reached Danny's car and saw what was inside, she just started screaming. Speaker 1 (4:33) A couple hours later, around 7.30 a.m., Sergeant J.R. Howard of the Arkansas State Police pulled into the lot at the corner of Highway 11 and Baker Street. The Higginson Police Department only had two full-time officers, and one of them, Officer Danny Longstreet, had just been found shot to death in his patrol car. So the County Sheriff's Department and State Police had naturally joined the case, and now Sergeant Howard had been named as the lead investigator. Howard had been surprised when he got the call. He lived in the next town over, and he knew that this town, Higginson, did not have a lot of crime. So the idea that a police officer would be shot to death, I mean, that was huge news. And Howard knew that because of that, he was going to be under a lot of pressure to solve this case and quick. Now, as Howard got out of his car, the sun was just starting to come up, so it was still pretty dark. By this point, most of the lot was roped off with police tape, and a forensics team was already moving around Danny's patrol car, taking photos. Over by the tape perimeter, Howard saw there was a single uniformed officer trying their best to hold back a crowd of locals that had gathered there to see what was going on. Howard walked over to that officer and pulled him aside to get an update. And the officer told him that there were a few witnesses who had heard three gunshots, or what they thought were gunshots, at 520 that morning. But no one had seen who had fired them. A local woman had eventually found Danny in his parked patrol car. and by the time paramedics had arrived, he was already dead. Howard thanked the officer, who went back to crowd control, and Howard himself walked over to the patrol car, and he shined his flashlight through the passenger side window, which was totally shattered, presumably from the gunshots. Inside the car, Danny was slumped over in the driver's seat, and his chest was completely soaked in blood. There was glass all over the passenger seat, which made it seem like the window had exploded inwards, which meant that very likely Danny had been shot. from someone standing outside the car. And to Howard, I mean, this was pretty disappointing because if the killer had been standing outside and fired the gun, well, it was unlikely they'd left fingerprints or DNA anywhere on the vehicle. But this also gave Howard a theory that this murder almost certainly had something to do with the fact that Danny was a police officer, since obviously he was ambushed while he was just sitting here in his patrol car. Now, the violent crime rate in Higginson was basically zero. So it was unlikely that Danny, as a cop here, had ever interacted with a serious criminal. But this was a very insular community where about half of all households own firearms. So personal disputes could