Widow of slain Norfolk officer awaits word on death benefits

Five months ago, Dawn Decker got the call: Her husband, a Norfolk police officer, had been found shot to death by the side of Oceana Boulevard.

A few days later, she buried her love of more than seven years. She has since tried to maintain a normal life for their daughter Charlotte, now 13 months old.

But their future remains uncertain, largely hinging on one question: Was Victor Decker doing police work the morning of his murder?

The answer may mean the difference between a secure financial future for Dawn and Charlotte Decker and an uncertain one.

If detectives determine that Decker was acting as a police officer, his family should qualify for state and federal line-of-duty death benefits totaling more than $400,000.

Decker's family should get the benefits, supporters say, especially if reports that he was wearing his police badge turn out to be true.

"If he had his badge around his neck, that meant he was trying to enforce some sort of law enforcement activity," said Mike McKenna, former president of the local police union that represents Norfolk. "And we would like to see him get those benefits."

The details of what happened early the morning of Oct. 26 remain a mystery.

According to accounts from friends and police, the night before his death, Decker attended a breast cancer fundraiser with friends at Atlantis Gentleman's Club at 446 Oceana Blvd. He left to take a friend home and returned.

At the end of the night, around 2 a.m., he chatted with friends in Atlantis' parking lot. He walked two to their cars and then agreed to meet at Central 111, a bar a few miles away that serves food late. But he never showed up.

About five hours later, a motorist spotted Decker's truck parked about 100 yards from Atlantis, stopped to help and discovered his body lying nearby, a gunshot wound to the head.

His police badge was hanging around his neck, Bruce Marquis, the retiring Norfolk police chief, said at the time.

His widow believes he might have intervened in something.

"Victor was the type of person who, if he saw a situation, he would've stepped in," Dawn Decker said. At the time of his death, she was out of town visiting family.

Detectives have obtained cell phone tower records and interviewed hundreds of people but have not pinned down a motive or suspect, according to police spokesmen and search warrant affidavits filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court.

The Virginia Beach Police Department has two homicide detectives dedicated to the case full-time. They requested Norfolk's file on a fatal shooting involving Decker but have not said whether there may be a connection to his murder. In that incident the night of March 19, 2009, Decker was patrolling downtown Norfolk when he encountered and fatally shot an armed man fleeing a robbery and fatal shooting.

Dawn Decker calls weekly to check on the investigation and is starting a support group for the families of fallen officers.

She said Charlotte doesn't notice her father's absence quite so much anymore. Charlotte once mistook a blond police officer for "Dada" but realized her mistake when she saw the man's face. And she's mostly stopped looking for him when she wakes up each morning, Dawn Decker said.

Dawn Decker has a mortgage to pay and, one day, Charlotte's college tuition to think about. She works for her family's business, selling dog food bowls to retailers. She's expecting a payment soon from her husband's life insurance and said she's received more than $20,000 in donations from the community.

She's grateful, but she holds out hope that investigators will determine her husband was acting as an officer when he died. Once detectives complete their investigation, Dawn Decker can apply to the state comptroller's office and the Department of Justice for state and federal line-of-duty death benefits. But if the case goes cold, she may be out of luck.

Robert Cuthrell, president of Blue Soul, a local nonprofit group that offers assistance to the families of fallen police officers, said he plans to start a petition asking that Dawn and Charlotte Decker be given line-of-duty benefits. McKenna, who's now a national representative for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, said the union is also willing to step in, possibly taking the case to court if they have to.

"These are people who we require to be on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Cuthrell said. "If it could go either way, then we should give the benefit of the doubt to the officer."

To view Blue Soul's petition on obtaining line-of-duty death benefits for Dawn and Charlotte Decker, visit www.bluesoul.org.

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/03/wido...death-benefits