The long journey home

Christian Peterson reporter.riverbendnews@gmail.com Dale Baker has always been a collector. He keeps what he considers a small museum in his home of items that he has found, come across or been given. However, many times, he looks for the item's owner; this was the case when it came to Dan Crowder's flag. On May 3, 1974, Danese “Dan” B. Crowder, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) officer, found Colon Russell illegally hunting deer out of season. The pair engaged in a brief chase before Russell fatally shot Crowder in the stomach and back. While Russell was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison, the lives of Crowder's family were ruined. On Jan. 10, 2024,