Trooper Fred Guthrie, 46, drowned on 8/1/11 while on duty in the area of Route 118 and Route 111 in Holt County Missouri. Trooper Guthrie was on river flood patrol duty at the time. He was last seen having lunch with other troopers at 1:00p.m. on 8/1/11. At 3:00 p.m. his work vehicle was found with the engine running with the drivers door open and with boat still attached to a trailer and Trooper Guthrie could not be located. His K9 partner “Reed”, a German Shepherd and five year veteran of the patrol was found dead in the water on 8/2/11 at 6:25 p.m. The K9 was recovered about 100 yards away from where Trooper Guthrie’s vehicle was found. No one saw Trooper Guthrie enter the water so it is not known why he entered the water. Trooper Guthrie had been in law enforcement for seventeen years. On August 27, 2008, Officer Guthrie was presented with The Medal of Valor by Gov. Matt Blunt. Trooper Guthrie was presented the award for saving a woman on June 22, 2007 from drowning in Smithville Lake. The award is presented to public safety officers who have exhibited exceptional courage, extraordinary decisiveness and presence of mind, and unusual swiftness of action, regardless of his or her personal safety, in the attempt to save or protect human life. This act is deemed to be above and beyond the call of duty. Trooper Fred Guthrie’s body was never recovered. He is survived by his wife and three children ages 14 to 20 years old. Donations can be made in care of the Guthrie Family Fund, Bank of Weston, P.O. Box 8, Weston, Missouri, 64098.
A judge legally declared him dead in September of 2011. At a funeral service on Dec. 14, 2011, a casket was buried that held memorabilia of the trooper, as well as the cremated remains of K9 Reed. Officers carried baskets filled with yellow tennis balls into the church. Guthrie had used tennis balls to train Reed. After the service, many of the law enforcement officers joined a procession that traveled nearly 80 miles to the Knob Noster Cemetery in Knob Noster. The procession, led by police motorcycles with emergency lights flashing, included Guthrie’s truck and boat.
The body of Trooper Fred Guthrie Jr. was found January 12, 2012 , approximately 2:00 p.m. in a brush pile near the spot where the remains of his canine partner, Reed, were found. Guthrie’s body was found about 200 to 300 yards from where he disappeared over five months earlier. Trooper Guthrie was unearthed from “several feet” of sand by a crew from Hill Brothers Construction, a company that had been contracted by the Missouri Department of Transportation to rebuild the highway and fill a four-acre gap in Missouri Highway 111 with silt from nearly 44,000 acres of flooded farmland.
