END OF WATCH: JUNE 13, 2017
Nine years after two Georgia correctional officers were killed aboard a prison transport bus in Putnam County, their families, colleagues, and community members gathered near the scene Sunday to ensure their names will not be forgotten.
Sunday afternoon’s ceremony was held in the Dollar General parking lot alongside Hwy. 16, not far from where Sgts. Christopher Monica and Curtis Billue lost their lives June 13, 2017. Under a resolution approved by the Georgia General Assembly, State Route 16 from New Phoenix Road to Long Shoals Road and Texas Chapel Road has been designated the Christopher Monica and Curtis Billue Memorial Highway.
State Senator Rick Williams, who led the effort to secure the highway designation, said the dedication was personal. His family’s funeral home handled Monica’s funeral, and Williams attended church with members of the Monica family. He said he also grew up in Wilkinson County, where Billue was from.
“Just being here in Middle Georgia, knowing all of these people and being part of the community, this is the least we can do,” Williams said of the highway’s new designation and related signage. “This is something that should have been done a long time ago, but sometimes we need a little more time for the healing to take place.”
Williams called the turnout of approximately 200, including varied law officers from distant and disparate disciplines and jurisdictions, “phenomenal,” noting that some drove several hours to attend the ceremony and support the Billue and Monica families on a very hot September afternoon.
Monica and Billue were transporting prisoners when inmates Donnie Russell Rowe and Ricky Allen DuBose overpowered, disarmed, and murdered them. The inmates escaped, but two days later were captured in Tennessee. Rowe was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to consecutive life terms without parole. DuBose was sentenced to death following his trial at the Putnam County courthouse in June 2022, but 10 days later died by suicide in his prison cell.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, lead investigator in the case, was among the first officers to arrive at the scene nine years ago.
“When I pulled up in front of that bus, I knew what had happened without any mistake,” he said. “Unfortunately, I’ve worked other cases where police officers were killed in the line of duty. These were the last two where I was the lead detective, and I hope I don’t ever work another one. But I want to say that during that investigation and the subsequent trial, I gained a whole new respect for the officers of the Department of Corrections.”
Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale said the signs placed alongside Hwy. 16 will help ensure Monica and Billue remain remembered by future generations. He said he brought his 9-year-old child to the ceremony to emphasize the point.
“When they’re able to drive, when they’re our age, they’ll drive this stretch of highway, and they’ll know,” Barksdale said. “They’ll know that Curtis and Christopher were never forgotten.”
Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) Commissioner Tyrone Oliver recalled serving as Social Circle police chief when news of the killings came. With only three officers patrolling at the time, Oliver said he still sent one of them to Putnam County to assist in any way possible.
“That was a day that forever changed not only the lives of Sergeant Monica’s and Sergeant Billue’s families, but the lives of GDC as a whole as well,” he said. “We will never forget.”
Putnam County Commissioner and Georgia Dept. of Corrections official Tom McElhenney called the Hwy. 16 designation “a wonderful tribute to two gentlemen that made the ultimate sacrifice to try to keep Georgia safe.” who knew both Billue and Monica, said correctional officers often perform dangerous work without the public recognition given to other branches of law enforcement.
“They’re often unseen, but they are in very dangerous positions the whole shift,” McElhenney said. McElhenney added that GDC continues to use Hwy. 16 for prisoner transfers, making the new signs both a memorial and a reminder to officers traveling the route. “Anyone would know, you can never be too careful,” he said.
Speaking during the brief ceremony held under sweltering conditions, Billue’s niece, Allegra Lowe, said the dedication preserves the legacy of a man who always stood for what he believed was right.
“Every person who travels this highway will see the name Curtis Bernard Billue,” Lowe observed. “Our hope is that they will know behind the name was a man whose life mattered, whose service mattered, whose sacrifice mattered.”
Next, Denise Monica told the crowd that the passage of time had not lessened the loss felt by her family.
“No day is easier than the next,” she said. “My two girls lost their dad that day. My two girls will never walk down the aisle with him. My two girls miss him, and we all have a hole in our hearts so big.”
She described her husband as “honorable, noble, and peaceful” and said her family prays every day for all law enforcement officers across Georgia.
Following the ceremony, Williams presented the families with replicas of the memorial sign and copies of the legislative resolution.