Slain officer honored with historical marker

The public is invited to the 11 a.m. unveiling ceremony of the impressive monument that resulted from the funding efforts of the 100 Club, a national organization dedicated to helping families of officers killed in the line of duty.

Doran was killed in the early morning darkness of Aug. 5, 1959, by Alexander Robillard, a convicted burglar and car thief who would die in the gas chamber. Doran pulled over Robillard and was checking to see if his car was stolen when the killer shot the officer six times. Doran left behind a pregnant wife and two children. One son would die in the Vietnam War. In 2004, the state of California renamed the bridge “The Officer Eugene and Marine Lance Corporal Patrick M. Doran Memorial Bridge.”

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe will be the master of ceremonies at Monday’s dedication just outside the entrance to Sawyer Camp Trail that winds its way alongside the Crystal Springs reservoir. The monument, almost 5 feet wide and 3 feet tall, recounts the grim story of Doran’s death, but it also notes that the killer’s arrest resulted from skillful investigation, citizen cooperation and the use of forensic science.

Robillard was captured just 72 hours later in “an amazingly successful murder investigation,” said William Larsen, a former Santa Clara County district attorney who chairs the Doran Historical Marker Project. Larsen said criminalist Walter Houde of the San Mateo County crime lab, whose son will attend the dedication, was able to decipher the print on the killer’s blood-stained driver’s license that was dropped at the scene.

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the naming of the span that crosses San Mateo Creek as the “Eugene A. Doran Memorial Bridge.” In 1970, the 400-foot high bridge, built in 1965, received a “most beautiful” designation from the American Institute of Steel Construction. To be truly appreciated, the span’s beauty should be viewed from its underside. The bridge was designed by the late architect Mario Ciampi, known for his work in reinforced concrete structures. His resume includes the University Art Museum and the Newman Center Chapel in Berkeley, Westmoor High School in Daly City and Oceana High School in Pacifica. The bridge is part of the scenic Interstate 280, which itself is often referred to as “the world’s most beautiful freeway.”

There is an earlier historical marker commemorating Doran’s death, but it is not nearly as elaborate as the new one, which has 20 or so lines recounting the tragedy and is so large three adults can stand shoulder to shoulder behind it. The old marker at Vista Point in the northbound lane of 280 is a simple one of few words that concludes by saying Doran “made the supreme sacrifice at the hands of a criminal suspect he apprehended.”