Tributes planned for Georgia corrections officers killed on prison bus

In the coming days, Georgia’s law enforcement community will remember two corrections officers killed on duty Tuesday.

Sgt. Curtis Billue, 58, and Sgt. Chris Monica, 42, were shot to death on a prison transport bus on Ga. 16 near Eatonton when two inmates got through a barrier and overpowered them.

Escapees Ricky Dubose and Donnie Rowe, who are armed with the guards’ guns, remain at large.

During a Thursday news conference, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said the fugitives “brutally shot those officers multiple times.”

Billue spent 10 years with the Georgia Department of Corrections after rising to the rank of major in the U.S. Army.

Billue graduated from Wilkinson County High School, where his funeral is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday in the school’s auditorium on Ga. 57 in McIntyre.

He is remembered for his “commitment to his job and great love for his family,” his obituary stated.

Billue is survived by two children and was a caregiver for his elderly father, Revon Billue, of McIntyre.

Slater’s Funeral home has charge of arrangements.

He attended Fort Valley State University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and sociology from Clark University.

Monica will be laid to rest in Heritage Memorial Park at 371 Log Cabin Road in Milledgeville after his funeral at 2 p.m. Tuesday at First United Methodist Church at 366 Log Cabin Drive in Milledgeville.

Visitation with Monica’s family will be from 5-7 p.m. Monday at Williams Funeral home on N. Jefferson Street in Milledgeville.

Monica, a Chicago native, lived in Baldwin County for the past 20 years and worked at Rheem manufacturing for 10 years before joining the Department of Corrections.

He leaves behind his wife, two daughters and two grandchildren.

An education fund for Monica’s daughter Zoey Rae Monica has been set up at Century Bank and Trust.

During the news conference at the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia Corrections Commissioner Gregory Dozier spoke of the officers’ sacrifices and remembered getting the phone call Tuesday morning about the killing.

“The pain and anguish that was in the toes of my feet went up to my heart,” Dozier said. “It is a shame that two individuals would be so cowardly to do this.”

This story was originally published June 15, 2017 at 7:24 AM with the headline "Tributes planned for Georgia corrections officers killed on prison bus."