Sheriff Sidney Houghton was shot and killed by a juvenile prisoner after he had released him to his mother.

Sheriff Houghton responded to a 2:30 am call of a car in a ditch with it's lights on along Route CC north of Brown Corner. He discovered a 16 year-old boy whom he recognized inside the car. Sheriff Houghton called a wrecker, picked up the boys mother then returned to the scene. As the sheriff was preparing to drive away, the house's porch light flashed off and on then the 16 year-old boy approached the sheriff and shot Sheriff Houghton twice in the head with a .22 caliber derringer. The youth then reloaded and shot Sheriff Houghton in the head again as he lay near death in the front seat. The boy drove off in the sheriff's car and was shot as he swerved at Gallatin Chief Cox and another officer. On December 7th, 1978, the suspect was sentenced to life without parole.

Sheriff Houghton served as sheriff from 1957 to 1968, then as a deputy sheriff in Buchanon County from 1969 to 1974. After moving back to Daviess County he was persuaded to run for sheriff and was elected again in November 1976. He was survived by his wife, Beulah, and son, Jimmie Houghton. Interred: Hillcrest Cemetery, Gallatin, Missouri.