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Last updated on Friday, February 10, 2017
(BLOOMINGTON) - Wednesday was the anniversary of Monroe County Sheriff Sgt. Bill Brand’s murder.
A dozen years after his death, Bill Brand will be honored among the more than 20,000 federal, state and local law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty.
Members of his family and members of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office will travel to Judiciary Square in Washington, D.C., for the annual ceremony to see his name enshrined on the memorial and read aloud during the dedication ceremony.
In the early morning hours of Feb. 8, 2005, Bill Brand had been driving home to Bedford after working the late shift at the Monroe County Jail. On a dark stretch of Ind. 37 near Zikes Road, when Benjamin Steinberg fired a high-powered assault rifle into Brand's truck, killing him with a bullet to the head, causing the pickup truck to leave the highway and strike a limestone embankment.
In October 2007, 28-year-old Benjamin H. Steinberg was charged with Brand's murder.
Indiana State Police investigators determined Steinberg had purchased an AR-15 and gear for the assault rifle, including a laser sight and tripod, from a Martinsville man for $800. Police alleged Steinberg used an acetylene torch to destroy the weapon after killing Brand.
A jury in October 2009 found Steinberg guilty of murder. Two months later, he received a 65-year sentence. Steinberg is currently serving his time in the Pendleton Correctional Facility's treatment unit. His earliest possible release date is June 2041.
Sergeant Brand had served with the Monroe County Sheriff's Office for eight years. He left behind a wife and 3-year-old child.
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