Badge: 822
Age: 36
Served: 12 years
January 19, 1999 to May 10, 2011
OFFICER
Brian was born on November 18, 1974 to Edward Herman and Denise Elaine (Rutherford) Dulle. He grew up in the Village of Seven Mile, a small municipality about equidistance between Hamilton, Middletown, and Oxford in Butler County. He attended Wayne Elementary School and Edgewood High School where he played basketball and baseball.
On July 1, 1993, Brian enlisted in the United States Army and served in the 91st Chemical Company as a Chemical Operations specialist. He was honorably discharged on September 4, 1995 with an Army Achievement Medal (for meritorious service or outstanding achievement), Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Medal, and an Expert Badge (Rifle). Five months later, on December 5, 1995, he joined the Ohio National Guard’s 107th Cavalry as a Heavey Wheel Mechanic, primarily responsible for maintaining, repairing, and recovering wheeled vehicles from Humvees to heavy-duty tactical trucks
In August 1996, Brian took a position in Loss Prevention at McAlpin’s in Franklin, Ohio.
We do not know if Brian knew his great granduncle was the legendary Herman Dulle who served Hamilton as a Patrolman, Detective, and Captain from 1903 to 1933, but on June 8, 1998, he enrolled in the Butler Tech Peace Officer Training Academy and graduated on September 4th.
Brian married Abbie N. Uhl on October 24, 1998, a marriage that would thrive until his death.
Six months out of the academy, on January 19, 1999, Brian joined the Warren County Sheriff’s Office as a Deputy Sheriff.
Also in 1999, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Sociology with a minor in Criminalogy and was honorably discharged from the Ohio National Guard.
Deputy Dulle and Abbie’s first child, Madelyn Elizabeth “Maddie” Dulle was born in 2000. In 2003 the family was thriving with a three-year-old girl, another on the way, and they were building a new home in Warren County. Then tragedy struck. Maddie was diagnosed with pleural pulmonary blastoma, a rare, aggressive, malignant embryonal cancer that originates in the lungs. Within a year, Maddie had three major surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation. In 2004, Deputy Dulle and Abbie established a nonprofit corporation, Maddie’s Hope, to help raise money for the fight against cancer.
On November 12, 2005, Deputy Dulle was promoted to Sergeant. He completed a First Line Supervision course on July 17, 2006 and, on March 7, 2008, graduated from the Law Enforcement Foundation’s Police Executive Leadership College. On July 8, 2008, he successfully completed the Managing Patrol Operations course at the Ohio Police Officers Training Academy. “Brian was a tremendous worker,” Sheriff Larry Sims said. He considered Dulle an “up-and-coming” leader in the Sheriff’s Office.
He also excelled as a family man. He was a loving husband and father of three who worked tirelessly to support his oldest daughter for years through her intermittent bouts with cancer. Not just his wife and progeny, but according to his father comparing his family life to his stellar law enforcement career, he asserted that he was “an even better son, father, husband, brother, uncle, cousin, son-in-law, and brother-in-law. He was the family’s “go-to-guy.” If anyone had a problem, needed advice, could use some assistance, Sergeant Dulle was there for them.
And he was there for his community, and the entire cancer community in general. In 2009, Maddie was declared cancer-free. But that did not stop the Dulles. They continued their fight against cancer. And not just with their own 501(c)(3). They didn’t just talk the talk but literally walked the walk. At the end of April 2011, Deputy Dulle participated in the American Cancer Society’s Monroe/Middletown Relay for Life event. On Saturday, May 7th, Maddie and Abbie participated in a 5K Butterfly Walk for Cancerfree Kids in Butler County that raised $81,000 for pediatric cancer research. On Friday, May 13th, Maddie’s Hope was scheduled to hold a quarterly fundraising auction.
But, on Monday, May 9, 2011, Sergeant Dulle, as he had done 3000 times before, bid his family goodbye and went to work as a Warren County Sheriff’s Sergeant. By 1:50 a.m. on the 10th, he was out on patrol in Butler County.
MURDERER
Marcus Anthony Isreal was born June 16, 1988 to Robert and Jacqueline Hendricks. Carla Conyar adopted him and raised him in Dayton. She and Isreal moved to Middletown about 2001. Sometime before May 2011 Carla married bringing to Isreal a stepfather and stepsister. Nothing is known about his first 15 years, including any confidential juvenile record, though it might be surmised by his next eight.
In 2005, at 17, he enrolled in Middletown High School but spent little time there and did not graduate due to prison sentences. He served six months in juvenile prison from 2005 to 2006 for a history of criminal activity and at least one felony offense.
At 18 on November 12, 2006, he was indicted on two more felonies and a misdemeanor, Drug Abuse (Cocaine), Burglary, and Obstruction Official Business. The most serious of these charges, Burglary, carried a sentence of 2 to 15 years. At the minimum, he should have been in prison until November 2008. He served only seven months.
Had he served the minimum, he would not have been arrested in Butler County on May 11, 2008 with two accomplices robbing a man at gunpoint of his money and cellphone. For that, he was indicted in October 2008 for Aggravated Robbery, Having Weapons While Under Disability, and Possession of Cocaine. The most serious of these, Aggravated Robbery, carried a sentence of 4 to 25 years. At the minimum, he should have been in prison until October 2013. He was released from Marion Correctional Institute February 12, 2010 after serving less than 16 months.
While Isreal was in prison, his younger brother, Cory M. Isreal, in October 2009 at the age of 19, and two others broke into a Middletown home, gang-raped the woman inside and took her money and camera. He was sentenced to 43 years in prison and is incarcerated in the Chillicothe Correctional Institution for Aggravated Burglary, Aggravated Robbery, Kidnapping, and Rape of a Middletown.
In January 2011, a church ministry took Isreal in to help him get started on a better path. He lived in the home of one of the parishioners. They found him a job and got him into the College of Centerville to learn to be an HVAC Technician. But he would not abide by the rules of his sponsor and in March was forced to move from the home that she made for him.
Had he merely served the minimum sentence at any juncture of his adult criminal career, he would not have been sitting in the Take a Break Lounge, 1217 Jackson Lane in Middletown, at 22, during the very early morning hours of May 10, 2011, and seeing a 2001 Cadillac running outside without a driver.
Bill Edwards, Sr. owned the Cadillac and lent it to his wife’s Goddaughter, Shawnika Cooper. Cooper lent it to her boyfriend, William Peters who, after midnight of the 10th, took it to the Take a Break Lounge. He said he left it running because he had been having trouble getting it started.
Isreal told a witness that he was leaving to “take care of some business.” He left the bar, stole the Cadillac, and drove to where he was staying to retrieve a .357 Magnum revolver that he had recently purchased off the street. He then stopped at a second location to talk to a female friend.
By 1:50 a.m. on the 10th, he was on the prowl in Franklin, driving a stolen car and carrying a prohibited .357 Magnum to “take care of some business.”
INCIDENT
At 1:50 a.m., Franklin Police Officer Jake Lacon attempted to pull over the 2001 Cadillac for speeding and no taillights at Park Avenue and Maple Street in Franklin. Isreal sped up, traveled to Route 73, and headed east at speeds reaching 120 miles per hour. At 1:51 a.m., Officer Lacon, by radio, requested Springboro Police to deploy Stop Sicks. Officers from several area departments heard the pursuit and responded to assist. Springboro announced at 1:53 that the Cadillac avoided the Stop Sticks nearly swerving out of control. At 1:54 a.m., Officer Lacon made the same request of Waynesville officers. Isreal turned south on U.S. 42 and 30 seconds later tried to ram a Warren County Sheriff’s cruiser striking it almost head on and forcing it into a ditch. At 1:55 a.m., an officer announced that the Cadillac was “all over the road.” Isreal then steered the Cadillac at another Warren County Sheriff’s cruiser but missed. At 1:58 a.m., another report came over the police radio that he was “southbound in the northbound lane.” It took Isreal only 11 minutes to traverse the 18.3 miles that should have taken 30 minutes.
Sergeant Dulle responded to U.S. Route 42 at Utica Road just northeast of the Lebanon city border where he attempted to deploy Stop Sticks. He was outside his vehicle when Israel, traveling about 114 miles per hour, drove the Cadillac off the side of the road and into Sergeant Dulle. The Cadillac continued on into a ditch, struck a culvert, lost a tire, went airborne, sheared off a signpost, and ended up in a field across Utica Road. Isreal climbed out of the shattered sunroof and left the scene.
Lieutenant Mark Hatfield came upon the scene and at 2:01 a.m. radioed, “crash at 42 and Utica.” A minute later, he called for Careflight for Sergeant Dulle. At 2:07 a.m., he announced, “one suspect outstanding, need perimeter.”
DEATH
There was no need for Careflight. Lieutenant Hatfield had hope that belied what he saw. Sergeant Dulle’s body was so mangled that he forbad Deputy Troy Black, Sergeant Dulle’s best friend, from coming to the crime scene and seeing the carnage. Sergeant Dulle was killed on impact, becoming the first Warren County Sheriff’s deputy killed in the line of duty.
Sheriff Simms and Deputy Black notified Mrs. Dulle at her home at 3 a.m.
Sergeant Dulle was survived by his wife of almost 13 years, Abbie N. (Uhl) Dulle; children, Madelyn “Maddie” Dulle (10), Emma Dulle(7), and Jackson Dulle(4); parents, Edward Herman and Denise Elaine (Rutherford) Dulle; grandmother, Winifred “Winnie”(Hale) Rutherford; parents-in-law, Robert and Robin Uhl; siblings, Ryan Dulle, Brooke (Ben) Coulter, and Brad (Lindy) Dulle; and sister-in-law, Mellisa (Ryan) Vasques.
All Warren County employees put on black mourning loops and deputies wore black mourning bands across their badges. The Cincinnati Police Chief ordered his officers to also adorn their badges with mourning bands. Almost every law enforcement officer in Butler, Hamilton, and Warren Counties did the same.
On May 13, 2011, for four hours, about 1700 relatives, friends, and law enforcement personnel filed past Sergeant Dulle’s closed casket at Christ’s Church at Mason. The next day on the 14th, 1500 people attended his funeral service at the church. He was then taken to and buried at Lebanon Cemetery. The 500-vehicle cortege began on Western Row Road and traveled to Mason-Montgomery Road, then to U.S. 42 and North Broadway in Lebanon, and at times stretched for more than a mile.
INVESTIGATION
There was a massive manhunt for the driver, including police dogs and helicopters. Initially, Sergeant Dulle’s sidearm could not be found and Lieutenant Hatfield broadcast that the suspect may have taken it. Fifteen minutes later, it was found several feet away from his body, but no one was any less wary of the danger the suspect might pose.
While processing the crime scene, Isreal’s .357 Magnum revolver was also found.
Bill Edwards, Sr., at 4:56 a.m., finally reported his Cadillac stolen.
About 6:15 a.m., Deputy Troy Black found Isreal walking near the intersection of Ohio 122 and Drake Road, approximately one mile away from where Dulle was struck. He very strongly suspected Isreal was the driver that killed his friend. Isreal told him that he had been in the car, but that “J. J.” was the driver. Black took Isreal into custody and the intense search continued.
The Sheriff’s Office and Ohio State Highway Patrol worked on the investigation together and Sheriff Simms gave the lead to the Patrol. Detective Sergeant Brandon Lacy and Detective Roger Barnes interrogated Isreal who did not initially admit to driving the car, until he, seemingly surprised asked, “I killed a cop?”
Patrol officials secured several items to analyze, including the black box from the Cadillac. They also had in-car camera videos from various cruisers. Isreal’s DNA was also recovered for analysis. Nearly 70 officers and support personnel, including crime scene technicians and a crash reconstruction team from the Patrol’s Columbus headquarters were involved in the investigation.
When completed, Ohio State Highway Patrol crash reconstruction expert Sergeant Charles Scales estimated the Cadillac was traveling at 114 MPH and did not slow when it struck Sergeant Dulle. Montgomery County Coroner Dr. Kent Harshbarger determined that Sergeant Dulle’s death was immediate and a result of multiple blunt force injuries, including multiple fractures of the cervical cord, a fractured pelvis, complex damage to the rib cage, a fractured leg and arm, a dislocated mandible, and dislocation of several internal organs.
JUSTICE
By the end of the first day, Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said that Isreal faced charges of Involuntary Manslaughter, a first-degree felony with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, and Failure to Comply, a third-degree felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Isreal was taken to the Butler County Jail.
Isreal was arraigned in Lebanon Municipal Court at 1:30 p.m. on May 12, 2011 in front of Judge Mark Bogan. Lebanon Municipal Prosecutor Matt Grabre, recited Isreal’s extensive criminal and prison record and asked for a high bond. Judge Brogan set the bond at $1 million and bound him over to the Grand Jury. After the arraignment, Isreal apologized to the family.
However, Prosecutor David Fornshell had already taken steps for a direct indictment the next day on the 13th. He provided the Grand Jury with additional evidence. The Grand Jury returned nine indictments, including Murder, three counts of Felonious Assault, Receiving Stolen Property, and Having Weapons Under Disability.
Isreal was arraigned in Common Pleas Court on May 17, 2011. He was represented by another felon, Clyde Bennett, fresh off the three-years suspension of his license to practice law for going to prison. Considering the added charges, Prosecutor Fornshell requested a higher bond, and Judge James Flannrey raised it to $2 Million. Bennett advised the media that he was going to file a motion for a special prosecutor and change of venue, alleging that Isreal could not get a fair trial in Warren County because it was “conservative.”
On June 10, 2011, Isreal’s trial date was set for October 17th. Bennett was more specific regarding his slander of Warren County residents, alleging they mostly identified as white and therefore could not render a fair verdict to his client. At a hearing for the motion on July 19th, Judge Flannery denied the motion asserting that his motion insulted Warren County citizens. At another hearing for two more motions on August 26, 2011, Judge Flannery ruled that there was probable cause for Officer Lacon to stop Isreal and that the statements Isreal made admitting to the facts were made in compliance with his Miranda rights.
Jury selection began as scheduled on October 17th. The Warren County Common Pleas Court summoned 100 potential jurors. With a jury seated, the trial began on October 18, 2011 with a tour of the crash site. Following the tour and after opening statements, the jury was shown the video from a Franklin cruiser camera. Law enforcement officers testified and more video was introduced on the 20th, and then Ohio State Highway Patrol Sergeant Scales and the Montgomery County Coroner testified.
By the time Bennett could present a defense, his tactic was to admit all the facts but to tell the jury the facts merely proved Involuntary Manslaughter, not Murder. Isreal testified in his own behalf and admitted to the theft of the vehicle, possession of the firearm, and failure to comply when the Franklin officer tried to pull him over but denied that he had any intention to strike and patrol cars or Sergeant Dulle. Prosecutor Fornshell rebutted with the reminder that Isreal drove at police cars and Sergeant Dulle only, not the other cars on the road.
While he testified, Isreal was wearing jail-issued flip-flops because he took the heel off one of his dress shoes in order to remove a metal strip, apparently with the intent to fashion it into a pic for his handcuffs.
The case went to the jury on October 25, 2011 at 3:45 p.m. After 4¼ hours of deliberation, during which they almost certainly had a meal, the jury came back with guilty verdicts for Murder and eight other felonies, including the gun specifications, but not two of three counts of Felonious Assaults.
The next afternoon, Isreal appeared before Judge Flannery in jail garb. Flannery sentenced him to at least 25½ years to life. Bennett advised the case would be appealed but that he would not defend him.
Attorney Jeff Richards did appeal. Not for a new trial but for the dismissal of the remaining count of Felonious Assault and that the three gun specification sentences run concurrently. We assume the court denied the appeal because as of May 2026, the convictions and sentences stand.
Isreal was initially incarcerated at North Central Correctional Institution back in Marion with a first parole hearing set in March 2044. By January 2026, he joined his brother in the Chillicothe Correctional Institute, and his first parole hearing was changed to November 2036, exactly 25½ years after the murder, at which time he will be 48 years old.
EPILOGUE
Warren County Deputy Troy Black, Sergeant Dulle’s best friend, was one of the first officers that Isreal tried to ram. He was also singularly refused admittance to the crime scene due to that friendship. An hour later, he was with Sheriff Simms at the Dulle residence to notify Mrs. Dulle. Finally, more than three hours after that, he found and captured Isreal.
Within hours of Sergeant Dulle’s death, Fifth Third Bank set up a memorial fund for the Dulle children.
On February 19, 2012, Sergeant Dulle was posthumously awarded the coveted Deputy Sheriff of the Year Award. He was nominated in a letter to Sheriff Simms signed by every other member of the Sheriff’s Office.
On May 17, 2012, Ohio Representatives Peter Beck and Ron Maag announced that the portion of U.S. 42 between Lebanon and Waynesville would be designated Sgt. Dulle Memorial Highway.
In honor of Sergeant Dulle, the Butler Technical Police Academy instituted the Sergeant Brian Dulle Memorial Award, awarded to three to five cadets during each of three annual sessions for exceptional character.
If you know of information, artifacts, archives, or images regarding this officer or incident, please contact the Greater Cincinnati Police Memorial Committee at memorial@police-museum.org.
© This narrative was revised May 17, 2026 by Cincinnati Police Lieutenant Stephen R. Kramer (Retired), Greater Cincinnati Police Historical Society President/CEO. All rights are reserved to him and the Greater Cincinnati Police Historical Society.