Fallen Staff - Marie F. Curtis
End of Watch: Saturday, December 31, 1966
On December 27, 1966, at 10:30 AM, Gladys Garnet Turner, a 48-year-old female U.S. parolee, walked up three flights of stairs to enter the U.S. Probation Office in the Fairmont, West Virginia Post Office and Court House at 200 Fairmont Ave. Federal parolee Turner carried a six shot .22 caliber revolver with 43 spare rounds on her person.
Her United States Probation Officer (USPO), L.O. Bickel (pictured and described below) was not in the office.
U.S. parolee Turner shot Marie Frances Curtis, age 49, the United States Probation Clerk of nine years, five times before shooting herself in the head with the last round. The Fairmont Times newspaper reported the noise of the shots was heard throughout the small by modern standards, Federal Building. Closest to the scene was Mrs. Gertrude Lucas, U.S. District Court deputy clerk whose office was also located on the same hallway. Clerk Lucas went investigate and found Marie and parolee Turner both lying on the floor badly wounded. Word of the shooting next reached the second-floor offices of FBI agent Eugene Jones and Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Walter M. Garrison Jr. Agent Jones and Chief Deputy Garrison proceeded up to the 3rd floor, guns drawn. The office in which the shooting took place was adjacent USPO Bickel’s office (pictured below). The parolee was identified by her name on paper bag she carried and by a prison picture from her U.S. Probation file. The paper bag also contained a “men's magazine” called Knight and a few books including a paperback titled Cop Hater.
The Times West Virginia newspaper reported Marie lost her 88-hour fight for life on Saturday, December 31, 1966. On Marie’s Certificate of Death her doctor recorded her passing away at 3:10 AM, EST.
Federal parolee Turner had been sentenced in 1962 for Interstate Transport of Altered Money Orders. She served approximately four years in custody at the Federal Reformatory for Women in Alderson, West Virginia, and was paroled on March 9, 1966.
Marie was survived by her husband John J. Curtis, her son John J. Curtis Jr. and daughter Dolores Curtis (née Johnson).
USPO Bickel was on leave at the time of Marie’s death and returned the day of the shooting. USPO Bickel was one of Marie’s pallbearers.
Photo courtesy C A Filius at Find a Grave and has been manually and AI enhanced by this curator. Date unknown.
Plaque to honor the death of all four Fallen Staff on display at the Probation and Pretrial Services Office, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Washington, D.C. Special Note: Marie Curtis’ middle name was thought to be “Christopher” at the time the plaque was designed. This curator has uncovered Marie’s middle name was “Frances” and “Christopher” was her maiden name.
Fairmont, West Virginia Post Office and Federal Building. This postcard is in the Museum, but the date of the photo is unknown. The three-story building was built at 200 Fairmont Avenue and was completed in 1942. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia convened the first Tuesday in March and the first Wednesday in September. The building still stands but has not been occupied by the Federal Government for many decades. The U.S. Probation office was located on the third floor and research continues. A floor plan of the space is being sought.
Fairmont, West Virginia Post Office and Federal Building. The Museum has obtained the primary schematics dated 1940 through the Archives of the Cartographic Branch, National Archives at College Park, MD. If you would like to see other floors of the building, please email the Museum staff.
Detail showing the corridor the killer traversed to reach Marie’s office at the end of the hall, room 311. USPO Bickel’s office was to the left as one enters the space. Mrs. Gertrude Lucas, U.S. District Court deputy clerk who was first on the scene would have been in an office also on the left of the hallway.
Fairmont, West Virginia Post Office and Federal Building. This is a Google Earth image from April 2023 showing the rear of the building. Marie’s office is the third floor center bump out and USPO Bickel’s office is the corner office to the right. Image has been AI and manually enhanced.
Memorial plaque for fallen U.S. Probation Clerk Marie F. Curtis. Photo taken by this curator while on TDY at PPSO.
Special Note: Marie Curtis’ middle name was thought to be “Christopher” based on earlier research. This curator has uncovered Marie’s middle name was “Frances” and “Christopher” was her maiden name.
This plaque also has the wrong date of death.
Obverse of 2" coin presented to families and district representatives at fallen staff ceremony on September 9, 2016. Co-designed by this curator and a PPSO Staffer, with input from other national administrative staff. Manufactured by Smith & Warren. Special Note: Marie Curtis’ middle name was thought to be “Christopher” at the time the coin was designed. This curator has uncovered Marie’s middle name was “Frances” and “Christopher” was her maiden name.
Reverse of 2" coin presented to families and district representatives at fallen staff ceremony on September 9, 2016. Co-designed by this curator and a PPSO Staffer, with input from other national administrative staff. Manufactured by Smith & Warren.
Get yours! The first and only credential patch. Leather look PVC based on a 1966 credential. After an approved donation, you will receive a Museum CRED patch. This offer is valid while supplies last and only one patch per person.
USPO Bickel was also the manager of the bookstore at Fairmont State College. This photo is from the 1970 Fairmont State College Mound yearbook and has been manually and AI enhanced by this curator.
Leonal Owen (L.O.) Bickel was born in 1908 in Replete, West Virginia. Mr. Bickel was appointed as a United States Probation Officer in 1953 in the Fairmont, West Virginia, Office. It was a two-person office. In the 1960’s, USPO Bickel was appointed as the Northern District of West Virginia’s second Chief United States Probation Officer.
At a ceremony honoring fallen staff in 2016, Marie Curtis’ son, John Curtis, Jr., said his mother and USPO Bickel had switched days for holiday office coverage. It is widely believed Marie was shot because USPO Bickel was out of the office visiting family at the time of the assault/murder. He returned the day of the shooting and was one of Marie’s pallbearers.
USPO Bickel passed away on April 29, 2002, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He is buried in the Jefferson Memorial Cemetery. In 2015, USPO Bickel’s son, Bruce Bickel, described his father as “steel in velvet,” and stated “You know, you’d run into him and find his strength but you never got bruised.”
Special thanks to the current CUSPO of the Northern District of West Virginia for sharing his knowledge, his counsel and advice.