Officer Don Wagstaff

Officer Don Wagstaff

End of Watch: 

December 23, 1970

Age: 56
Utah Department of Corrections
Homicide: Suffocation


Officer Don Wagstaff was killed by an inmate at the Utah State Prison.

Officer Wagstaff was supervising an early morning work detail at the prison dairy. When he discovered an inmate loafing, an altercation ensued, and the inmate attacked Officer Wagstaff with a pair of hoof clippers. After beating Officer Wagstaff unconscious, the assailant bound his feet and covered him with grain causing him to suffocate. Taking the officer’s watch, wallet and coat, the assailant fled the dairy with another inmate. The two were arrested in a cab on Redwood Road a few hours later. The inmate was convicted of second-degree murder. He was paroled in 1983.  Officer Wagstaff was married and the father of two grown children. He is buried in American Fork Cemetery.  

The bronze memorial name plaque of Officer Don Wagstaff is sponsored by the Utah Department of Corrections.

Fallen Officers