MESA, Ariz. — A wall at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Training Center is lined with famed pictures of deputies who have lost their lives in the line of duty. But one frame is empty.
The story of Wright’s death and service goes back almost 100 years to when the deputy faced off against a famous criminal gang.
The year is 1930. The infamous criminals Bonnie and Clyde had only just met, and it would be years before their cross-county crime spree.
But before Bonnie and Clyde was "Iron" Irene Schroeder and her boyfriend Glen Dague, a pair every bit as dangerous and murderous as their more famous counterparts.
Even though there are no pictures of Wright, there are plenty of pictures of the "original Bonnie and Clyde."
The pair shot and killed a highway patrolman in Pennsylvania after a robbery and then fled west to avoid being arrested. They picked up a third member of the gang along the way.
"The three of them realized that they were actually pretty good criminals together, so they continued their way, making their way west, and they were doing whatever they needed to do to continue," Joanne Kennedy, a member of the computer crimes unit at the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, said. "That meant lying, cheating, and stealing, robbing and ultimately killing our deputy."
The shooting of the deputy took place in downtown Chandler near the San Marcos Hotel in 1930.
While Wright was only shot in the arm, the blow proved fatal as the bullet hit an artery. He died from his wounds two weeks later.
The gang headed west into Estrella Mountains after the shooting, but a group of 100 deputies and Native American trackers found them.
The scene was depicted in a comic book strip at the time and made the gang infamous.
"The publicity was nationwide," Kennedy said. "Everyone knew their story."
While the “first Bonnie and Clyde” became a well-known story, Wright’s story was lost to history.
Until now.
When members of a group called the Fallen Hero Wreath Program went to lay a wreath at Wright’s grave, they found not a headstone, but a bare spot in the grass at the Mesa City Cemetery.
"He deserved better than that," Kennedy said. "He gave his life, he made the ultimate sacrifice, and here he was in a pauper's grave, unrecognized, and no one knew his story."
The MCSO Volunteer Posse, a nonprofit "from all walks of life who want to give back to their community" who "work with deputies and civilian staff to help improve law enforcement and enhance public safety" paid for Wright's headstone, which was put in place this past week.
On Oct. 28, MCSO will hold a memorial service for Wright. An honor guard from Pennsylvania will be the first officer killed in the crime spree worked for a highway patrol unit in the state.
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