He Never Came Home From the Job. Here’s Who Helped His Family Carry On

Editor Note: We believe some of the most important stories in America are the ones that rarely make the headlines.

We are proud to announce the launch of Untold Stories, a new video series produced in partnership with the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) and sponsored by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Foundation. Over the coming months, this two-dozen-episode series will take viewers inside federal law enforcement agencies across the nation, highlighting the men and women who serve, the missions they carry out, and the partnerships that help keep our communities and country safe.

Through exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes access, and firsthand accounts, Untold Stories will showcase success stories, innovative initiatives, and unique perspectives on national security and public safety.

Join us for the latest episode here, as Untold Stories takes you inside the agencies, missions, and people working every day to protect our nation. This episode gives you a preview of what is to come in this series.

On November 18, 2016, members of the U.S. Marshals Service's Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force surrounded a trailer in Long County, Georgia that housed a fugitive wanted for multiple counts of attempted murder.

Two months earlier, in South Carolina, this individual had opened fire on officers with an assault rifle in an attempt to escape arrest. He had succeeded in escaping for the moment, but it was only a matter of time before the law caught up to him.

The team had him cornered. This was an armed and dangerous fugitive who had to be brought to justice. But the fact that it had to be done did not make the act of stepping through that door any less courageous.

Deputy Commander Pat Carothers took point.

The fugitive was waiting in a bedroom with a handgun. When Carothers entered, he was shot in the arm and chest. In spite of his wounds, Carothers returned fire, determined to protect the team behind him. His fellow deputies crawled through the gunfire to drag him to safety. Finally, a deputy was able to shoot the fugitive, who was taken to the hospital and later died.

Pat Carothers died at the scene.

For the nation, it was one more headline. For the Carothers family, it was the beginning of a life they never imagined: one without him.

We often hear the stories of courage in the line of duty, even the ones that end in tragedy. But one story that has gone untold for too long is that of the people left behind.

This episode of Untold Stories is about what happens after the funeral, after the flag is folded, after everyone else goes home and the grieving family feels like it has no home to go back to. It is about the families left to pick up the pieces, and the people who refuse to let them do it alone.

At Carothers' memorial, he was remembered as a husband, a father, and a friend to many, a man "who did not hesitate to put his own life on the line in order to protect the country and the community he lived in." The episode also revisits the 2021 memorials for two FBI agents killed while serving a warrant in Sunrise, Florida. Different agency, different state, same unbearable news delivered to a family that will never be the same.

When the cameras move on, those families are still there. So is the FLEOA Foundation.

Foundation Executive Director John Bottone has spent decades making sure the families of fallen officers are not forgotten. He started out with police unions and the Widows and Orphans Fund, then served as a federal air marshal before moving to the U.S. Attorney's Office. There, coworker and then-FLEOA National President Jon Adler brought him into the organization in 2002. Twenty-three years later, he is still answering the call.

"I always had a place in my heart to help the families of guys killed in the line of duty," Bottone said. "We take care of families of our guys in need."

The families tell the rest of the story. In a letter featured in the episode, Pat Carothers' widow, Terry, credits the Foundation with carrying her son Connor through the years after his father's death.

"Connor wouldn't have made it this far without your and FLEOA's support," she wrote. "Where would we be without our FLEOA Foundation family?"

Now that mission is growing. In the episode, Bottone announces the launch of the Founders National Police Foundation, a new arm working jointly with FLEOA to support the family of every police officer in the nation killed in the line of duty.

"That's my promise," Bottone said. "We will do that."

Watch the full Untold Stories episode to see how the FLEOA Foundation is keeping its promise to the families of America's fallen officers, and why that promise is about to reach every corner of the country.