Sheriff John W. Bechtold Jr. of the Campbell County Sheriff's Office in Mound City, SD suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after arriving at the scene of a fatal accident near Herreid, SD on Wednesday, August 4, 2004 at approximately 2300 hours.

The sheriff and his deputy were the first responders to arrive and he was performing CPR on one of the accident victims when he began to feel ill and collapsed. He died en route to a local hospital.

Sheriff Bechtold had served as sheriff for two years and had previously served as a deputy with the Campbell County Sheriff's Office for 6 years. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.