Old Patrol HQ

We honor the memory of US Border Patrol Inspector Theodore L. Newton, Jr., born July 30, 1941 and entered on duty in San Diego Sector on April 11, 1966

End of Watch: June 17, 1967

Details:
Patrol Inspector Theodore Lawrence Newton, Jr., and Patrol Inspector (Trainee) George Frederick Azrak were found murdered in a remote deserted mountain cabin on June 19, 1967, following an intensive 48-hour search after they disappeared while on official duty. The men were kidnapped from their post during a traffic check operation near Oak Grove, California, in the early morning hours of June 17, 1967. The officers failed to report in and a hurried search failed to reveal the whereabouts of the men and their two vehicles, a jeep and a Border Patrol sedan. The Service jeep was soon located about a mile from the checkpoint.  On June 19, 1967, a member of a jeep club from Hemet, California, spotted the missing Service sedan. The sedan had been covered with brush fifty feet from the deserted shack, where the posse located the bodies of the missing patrolmen. 

​In reconstructing the crimes, it now appears that Patrol Inspectors Newton and Azrak intercepted a vehicle with over 800 pounds of marijuana. While checking this vehicle, the officers were overpowered by four convicted felons, two of whom had been following the load of marijuana in a second vehicle. The officers were then taken to the mountain cabin where they were made to lie prone with their arms extended toward each other. The right wrist of one man was handcuffed to the left wrist of the other, and vice versa. While incapacitated in this manner they were shot and killed.  Autopsies performed revealed Patrol Inspector Newton had been shot once in the head while three shots were fired into Patrol Inspector Azrak, two in the head and one in the chest. Their bodies bore no marks to indicate there had been a struggle.

We will never forget. Honor First, Honor Always.