CLARKSVILLE, Ind. (WDRB) -- An Indiana State Trooper killed in the line of duty nearly seven decades ago was memorialized Monday with a permanent sign on a heavily traveled road in Clarksville.
First Sergeant Mavin Walts was a trooper with the Charlestown State Police Post when he was fatally shot by a suspected bank robber during a traffic stop on March 18, 1957. The suspect also shot at Walts' pastor, Rev. Robert Gingery, who was in the car with Walts during the traffic stop.
Pictured: this image from Indiana State Police shows First Sergeant Marvin Walts, who was killed in the line of duty on March 18, 2025. (Indiana State Police)
Gingery was able to use Sergeant Walts' shotgun to return fire, killing the suspect.
Walts, a New Albany native, was honored with the sign Monday during a ceremony on Lewis and Clark Parkway near Interstate 65, in Clarksville. Several members of Indiana State Police, including public information officer Sgt. Carey Huls, attended the ceremony.
"All of our line-of-duty deaths from the Sellersburg post happened many years ago," Huls said. "Back then they didn't put up memorial signs -- when that happened, it wasn't common practice at least."
Huls said Sgt. Walts was not on duty when he heard a radio call about an armed robbery at the Sellersburg State Bank. Walts pulled over a vehicle driven by a suspect who matched the description of the bank robber, Huls said. Walts died instantly after he was shot in the forehead by the suspect, as he approached the vehicle.
Walts was planning his retirement when he was killed. He left behind a wife and teenage son.
Trooper Nathan Newton got the idea for the memorial signs in 2021, and partnered with the Indiana State Police Alliance to make the project happen. He said family members of the fallen officers appreciate the memorials.
"They just really appreciate that their family member hasn't been forgotten," Newton said, "and that's the biggest for the state police. Like the sign says, 'gone but never forgotten.'"
Huls said the sign for Walts is the fourth of four signs dedicated to fallen officers in the Sellersburg district (Walts was assigned to the Charlestown post before the Sellersburg post existed).
Indiana State Police officials are working to get more signs dedicated in memory of fallen troopers throughout the Hoosier state.
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