Families of police officers who died on the job were in Springfield Thursday to honor their loved ones.
Three years and fifty three days. That's how long Pam Robtoy says she's lived without her fiancee, U.S. Marshal John Perry. He was shot to death trying to arrest a fugitive in St. Louis, in 2011.
Robtoy says she still doesn't understand why John was killed, but she finds comfort knowing he died serving others.
"I was supposed to be planning a wedding. I wasn't supposed to be planning a funeral service. There had to be some great reason."
Robtoy says she's found comfort among fellow survivors who support each other when memories become too much to bear.
Other officers killed in the past year were also honored at the ceremony, including State Trooper James Sauter, who died when a truck driver — allegedly tired — read ended his squad car in the north suburbs in March 2013.
