Sue Sitter/PCT Dale Niewoehner points to the spot where Rugby Police Officer Frank Peterson was shot and killed the morning of Feb. 3, 1963.

Memories of a horrific Sunday morning in Rugby 60 years ago have faded in the minds of many residents in this quiet community.

Some involved in the events from that time have died; others have difficulty recalling events as they age.

Many don’t remember the shooting of Rugby Police Officer Frank Peterson at all because it happened when they were small children or not yet born.

Dale Niewoehner, local historian and owner of Niewoehner Funeral Home, marked the 60th anniversary of that tragic day Feb. 3 with an email message.

 “Officer Frank Peterson was murdered on February 3, 1963 in the alley behind my business by Louie Mattern and Frank Linha,” Niewoehner wrote in a message to the Tribune.

Peterson’s murder years ago shocked Rugby residents because of the small city’s reputation as a sleepy rural community where, according to some, nothing much happens.

Rugby still enjoys that reputation.

Neighbors wave at each other – even at people they don’t really know. Local law enforcement officers attend church, school events and an occasional Music in the Park performance in the summer with their families, just like everyone else.

But at about 5 a.m. on that bone-chilling February morning, two Minot residents killed a part-time patrol officer who, according to The Pierce County Tribune, was well-liked and respected by all.

The Feb. 7, 1963, Tribune said state and local law enforcement officers joined the U.S. Border Patrol to investigate the crime.

Officials believed from an early tip provided by Mr. and Mrs. Harold Anderson that three men had committed the crime. The Tribune story said Mrs. Anderson had been awakened by the sound of gunshots.

As evidence emerged, investigators revised their theories about how the murder happened, changing the number of suspects to two. But one thing they suspected all along, that at least one murderer had Rugby ties, proved to be correct.

Peterson had surprised Mattern and Linha as they were in the act of burglarizing several local businesses on Main Ave., using the alleyway running to Third Street. At the time, the Nash they were driving was parked near Romig Electric, Otter Tail Electric, and The Mint Bar.

Tbe story said after Peterson tried to box Mattern and Linha in with his patrol car, the two ambushed him and began shooting. Officers believed Peterson had tried to return fire at first, since he seemed to have time to run.

But the two continued shooting, at one point, taking his .38 caliber weapon and using it to shoot him as well.

The story said as investigators examined the number and type of bullets used, they discovered “one had pierced his police badge, making officers deduce that the killers had a particular hatred for cops.”

After moving Peterson’s patrol car, the two sped away in the Nash.

Police apprehended Linha and Mattern in Minot less than two days after the crime.

Working the case along with Police Chief Oswald Tofte were Highway Patrol Officer Richard Bercier and Sheriff Walter Miltenberger, along with “about 100 officers plus volunteers,” the Tribune story said.

Juvenile Judge Frank Hager, District Judge Ray Friederich, Deputy Cleo Smith and Jerry Gaetz also helped with the manhunt.

“Besides police officers from nearby towns, highway patrolmen, border patrol and others, FBI men and agents from the Crime Detection Bureau at Bismarck (known today as the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, or BCI) came in to make studies,” the story added.

Another Tribune story detailed how law enforcement officials hauled away load after load of stolen goods from the apartment where Mattern, a Minot State University student, lived with Linha.

The story described Mattern as “dancing around” with a stuffed animal as police apprehended him.

Both Linha and Mattern ultimately served life sentences after their March 1963 convictions.

Both were paroled in 1979.

On Oct. 16, 1983, Mattern died in Minot after suffering fatal burns in a gas explosion at his mother’s home in late September of that year. His mother died in the explosion.

“(Mattern is) buried … at Little Flower Cemetery – Rugby,” Niewoehner said in a written message to the Tribune.

“Frank Linha died in Fargo on January 30, 2013 and is cremated and is in a columbarium at Riverside Cemetery in Fargo,” he added.

Jeff Bercier, son of Richard Bercier, who died in 1995, said his father “never talked about the incident.”

“I never knew about it until years later,” he added. “I’m 55. I was born in ’67.”

” I was in law enforcement, too. He never talked about it, even then,” he added, with a slight laugh.

Bercier said his father’s role in the criminal case was confined to bringing the two suspects to Rugby to face justice. A photo of Richard Bercier posing with Rugby Mayor Dr. C.B. Weimer and Tofte appeared in the Tribune and True Detective Magazines.

Despite the graphic descriptions of Peterson’s multiple bullet wounds and the blood-spattered crime scene, “My dad never got traumatized by anything,” Bercier said.

“The only way you could traumatize him was by not feeding him,” he added with a good-natured laugh.

“It was just something we never talked about. We never, ever did,” he said.

“We actually stumbled across the True Detective Magazine years later, when I was a much-older adult” he added. “My dad kept it.”

“He never really talked about work when he came home. His work was his work, and his home time was his home time,” he said.

Although residents in the past have said bullet marks can be seen in the alleyway where the murder took place long ago, the buildings and pavements show no signs of any trouble there.

Since Rugby is a small town, some people know relatives of the families involved in the tragedy.

A plaque with a photo of Peterson and a plate bearing his name created with a pencil rubbing from the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial, hangs on a wall at the Pierce County Law Enforcement Center.

But memories of that cold February morning have faded over time. Rugby reclaimed its reputation as a peaceful small town years ago, and people here give the impression they intend to keep it that way.