Section of west Sonoma County highway being named for slain deputy

A 5-mile stretch of Highway 116 near the Sonoma Coast has been named the Deputy Sheriff Merrit W. Deeds Memorial Highway, an honor bestowed four decades after the deputy was killed by an ex-con on the side of the highway.

The Sonoma County sheriff’s honor guard will unveil roadside signs marking the memorial highway Saturday morning during a ceremony with Sheriff Steve Freitas and members of Deeds’ family, said Joe Dulworth, Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff’s Association president.

The unveiling ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. at a Highway 116 pullout near the intersection of Highways 1 and 116 near Jenner, about a half-mile west of the site where Deeds was gunned down Aug. 23, 1975.

“When he was killed, he was working routine patrol. He pulls over and didn’t know what he would encounter,” said Dulworth, lauding Deeds’ sacrifice. Dulworth’s association represents about 250 deputies and lobbied for the highway designation.

Deeds was on patrol that day, and the 32-year-old deputy from Cazadero pulled over in front of an Oldsmobile parked on the road shoulder to investigate.

Convicted felon Robert Shirey had been driving toward the coast with a friend and teenage hitchhikers, according to testimony from his trial. He had pulled over and kicked all but one of the boys out of the car, offering the boy a false ID in exchange for sexual favors, according to Press Democrat archives.

Deeds took IDs from some of the males and, once he was back at his patrol car, a boy knocked on the car window and told him they needed a ride to Guerneville because one of the men in the Oldsmobile had made sexual advances.

Deeds went back to the Oldsmobile, but Shirey got the jump on him, taking the deputy’s revolver and holding him at gunpoint with a 9 mm pistol.

Off-duty reserve deputy Rex Nance, who was driving by, pulled over when he saw the parked patrol car with lights flashing and several men, including Deeds, standing by.

Nance walked up and Deeds yelled, “Rex, he’s got a gun!” and dove for Shirey. The men scuffled. Shirey shot Deeds at point-blank range, killing him, and also shot at Nance, who was embroiled in the scuffle. Wounded, Nance managed to get to the patrol car and radio for help.

Shirey fled in the Oldsmobile, with his friend behind the wheel, but the men later were apprehended on Highway 12.

Shirey was convicted of first-degree murder and attempting to kill Nance. He died in prison.

Last year, the state Legislature approved the memorial highway designation. The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors in April agreed to cover the $9,720 cost to purchase and install the signs for Deeds.

Deeds was the first law enforcement officer to be killed in Sonoma County since 1935, when Santa Rosa Police Chief Charles O’Neal was gunned down.

About 20 years after Deeds’ death, Deputy Frank Trejo was killed while checking on a suspicious pickup parked off Highway 12 in front of a saddle shop near Sebastopol.

The man behind the wheel, Robert Scully, had just been released from Pelican Bay State Prison. Scully took Trejo by surprise and shot the deputy at close range. Scully remains on death row in San Quentin State Prison.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.