‘He had a servant’s heart’: Sheridan police Sgt. Krinkee laid to rest

People lined Sheridan’s Main Street a half hour before the procession began. They chatted. Some brought chairs. Others carried cups of coffee. An American flag hung from two fire-truck ladders bridging the thoroughfare.

As noon approached, a convoy of police cars could be seen waiting in the distance, their lights already flashing. The crowd filled in, occupying both sidewalks for several blocks.

The procession began. The first police cars started down Main Street, then turned left past the Sheridan County Courthouse and onto Coffeen Avenue. A white hearse followed, and the crowd went silent. A line of police vehicles — from Evanston, from Casper, from across Wyoming — stretched the length of downtown Sheridan, their lights flashing, their sirens quiet.

For 15 minutes, no one spoke. No children cried. Some pulled out phones and recorded videos. Many removed their hats. Save for the sound of tires on pavement, downtown was silent as the procession made its way to Sheridan College.

The hearse carried the remains of Sgt. Nevada Krinkee, who for seven years served on the Sheridan Police Department. On Feb. 13, a man shot and killed the 33-year-old father and husband as he attempted to serve a trespass warning. On Friday, hundreds of law enforcement officers joined the community of Sheridan in honoring Krinkee’s life and sacrifice.

In the Golden Dome at Sheridan College, a sea of uniforms. Black and green. Brown and Blue. American and Wyoming flags bookend the dais.

Family entered and sat in the first few rows. Then came officers bearing a flag-draped casket. More officers in full-dress uniforms stood alongside. As the casket passed, each slowly raised a white-gloved hand in salute.

The pallbearers positioned the casket at the front of the room. One remained, resting her hands on the coffin. She stood there until relieved by another officer, with the process repeating through the service so that the casket was never alone.

On the stage stood Sheridan Police Lt. Danny Keller, who later told the mourners Krinkee was like a son to him. He started by acknowledging the groundswell of support that flowed across Wyoming after Krinkee’s death. So many people were expected at the service that it was live streamed at several churches in the area.

“Your presence today solidifies the support you’ve given us,” he said. “You honor Nevada’s memory and testify to the fact that he is the hero of Sheridan and forever will be.”

Over the next 90 minutes, colleagues, friends and family members remembered Krinkee. As a devoted father. A protector. An avid boardgamer. A man committed to his community. A man devoted to his family.

Krinkee joined the department after eight years in the U.S. Army. He twice deployed to Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne. 

“He was a protector of his country, his community, of children and all things good,” Chris Schuett, a pastor at Sheridan Bible Church, told the crowd, reading the words of Krinkee’s sister, Brandie Mathison-Klein. “He would walk children to and from school in Afghanistan, ensuring they made it home safely back into the arms of their parents.

“He had a servant’s heart, always sacrificing for the good of others while never seeking recognition,” Schuett added.

While in training at the Sheridan Police Department, Krinkee met his future wife, Karla, who is now a corporal with the department. Last summer, the couple had a daughter they named Bella.

Krinkee’s father-in-law, James Rogers, remembered him as a protector who was always kind and supportive of Karla, providing the support she needed.

“Nevada, I don’t know how to say goodbye because in my heart, you’re still there,” Rogers wrote in a remembrance read at the service. “So Nevada, I’ll say this. I promise you this: I’ll be there protecting and caring for your daughter as you did mine. And as long as our lives go on, we will never forget yours.”

Krinkee’s sister-in-law, Donna Bass, recalled their playful banter and competitive game nights. Everything became a good-natured competition — from video games to eating. 

“Our time together was always a game,” she recalled, in words delivered by a pastor at the service. “We were always playing, always laughing and always having fun.”

Later, Keller returned to the stage and talked about Krinkee’s deep Christian faith. He described Krinkee as someone who saw the world as a broken place that needed noble men who were willing to battle evil.

Keller then read out the words of Karla. She recalled how excited her husband was to be a father, reading to his daughter and telling her dad jokes long before she came into the world. 

“To see my husband with our daughter on the day she was born changed me,” she wrote. “It filled me with such a joy and a kind of faith that can’t be described. I watched him stare at her, and I knew this is always who he was meant to be.

“This kind of life our daughter should have had with her father was stolen. And all I can do is hold on to the knowledge that … the time he had with her, the love and devotion, will last a lifetime.”

As the service concluded, a dispatcher called out to Krinkee on the radio one last time. “Sam 4, Sgt. Nevada Krinkee, 10-42,” she said, referring to the police code for ending a tour of duty. “We have the watch from here.” Then officers carried his casket from the building, others holding a final salute as it passed.

WyoFile’s Daniel Kenah contributed reporting to the story from Sheridan.