DPS Team Members of the Month
April Sworn Team Members of the Month
Blake G. Groves
Corporal
Scott T. Roettger
Trooper
Missouri State Highway Patrol
April Non-Sworn Team Member of the Month
Jennifer Rehmsmeyer
Cemetery Representative
Missouri Veterans Commission
Corporal Blake G. Groves and Trooper Scott T. Roettger, Missouri State Highway Patrol Criminal Investigators, are the DPS Sworn Team Members of the Month for April 2025 for their thoroughness investigating the horrifying physical abuse of an infant, which resulted in a long prison sentence for the abuser.
In March 2023, a six-month old child was brought to a St. Louis emergency room for multiple injuries, including broken ribs and a lacerated liver. The suspect said an older sibling was responsible for the injuries but made contradictory statements and was served with an order of protection to have no contact with the victim. Despite that, in April 2023, the child was again taken to the emergency room with a broken leg. The suspect was charged with violating the protection order and harassment of the infant’s mother but continued to contact her through many means.
In October 2023, the Pike County Prosecutor’s Office contacted the Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control about the case. Blake interviewed the victim’s mother, who provided evidence the suspect had attempted to contact her over 100 times. He left messages that contained threats of violence and the release of sensitive material. Blake sent search warrants to several companies and was able to confirm the suspect’s contact with the victim’s mother. Blake and Scott conducted interviews that confirmed the suspect’s abuse of the child.
Blake and Scott’s investigation showed the suspect was hiding in Quincy, Illinois. With assistance from Quincy Police, they arrested him on existing warrants for harassment. During an interview, the suspect admitted to specifics of his violence toward the child and to harassing and stalking the mother.
Late last year, the perpetrator pleaded guilty to his crimes and was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison. The prosecutor in the case wrote that had it not been for Blake and Scott’s thorough and impressive investigation she would not have been able to move forward with the case. Just as important, she said the child, now almost two, “is a healthy and happy little boy.”
Jennifer Rehmsmeyer, a Cemetery Representative with the Missouri Veterans Commission, is the DPS Non-Sworn Team Member of the Month for April 2025 for her quick thinking, compassion and dedication to Missouri’s veterans, which may have saved the life of a distraught veteran in December 2024.
On Dec. 4, 2024, Jennifer took a phone call at the Higginsville Veterans Cemetery where she has worked for a year. The caller asked if a person who took his own life would be eligible to be buried at the cemetery. He said he was calling a behalf of a friend, but it soon became obvious that he was the one who was troubled. Jennifer prolonged the conversation and tried to get the veteran to call 988 the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. He shouted he was not interested and only wanted to be with his wife, who is buried in the Higginsville cemetery. Jennifer got his name by saying she could check to see if he was pre-certified for burial there. He gave his name, was told he was pre-certified, and he then hung up the phone.
Jennifer quickly checked with the Cemetery Program Director to see if it was OK to call the person listed as his next of kin. She called 988 to report the crisis and another team member called the next of kin, who made it to the veteran’s residence within 20 minutes and was able to intervene and calm the veteran.
In a situation for which there was no training, and with a veteran’s life on the line, Jennifer demonstrated the compassion and selflessness for which she is known, and likely helped save a man’s life.
Congratulations to all the Team Members of the Month! You have set an outstanding example for your co-workers throughout the Department of Public Safety.
The Missouri Department of Public Safety. Many Missions. One Team.