Officer Elmer DeNamur
(Dates of service – 1923 to 1945)

This historical records regarding the life of Officer Elmer DeNamur are incomplete. Outside of his service to the police department, not much else is known about him.

DeNamur served Titletown, USA for 22 years and retired one year before Chief Thomas E. Hawley. DeNamur performed valiantly in the shoot out with gangsters in front of the South Side State Bank on August 20, 1931. Officer DeNamur drove the squad car to the robbery scene. Believing it was over with; he mistakenly parked right in front of the gangster’s vehicle that was still at the entrance to the bank. Automatic 45-caliber Tommy gun rounds instantly sliced through the squad car. He exited the driver’s seat and while walking backwards fired his inferior .38 caliber at the well-dressed and armed gangsters. DeNamur found cover at the entrance of a meat store where he reloaded and fired six more founds. A bullet found its mark and wounded one of the gangsters who turned and fled on foot. After the gangsters fled, he was one of two unharmed officers and found himself in the middle of a major crime scene.

DeNamur is the only officer in Titletown history to have the two titles of “Officer” and “Department Mechanic.” When not patrolling, he was in charge of the small fleet, which comprised of a couple squad cars and some motorcycles. He retired in 1945 and it is believed that he remained in Titletown.

Find out more about Officer Elmer DeNamur and others in “True Crime in Titletown, U.S.A. ~ Cold Cases.”