In memory of
Apollo
K-9, Dexter Police Department, Missouri
Found dead in his kennel on February 18, 2024
He served his community every day he was asked to. The one person he depended on let him starve.
His story
A working dog gives everything, and depends on one person for everything in return.
Apollo was the active-duty police K-9 of the Dexter Police Department in Stoddard County, Missouri. Like every working dog, he gave his obedience, his loyalty and his trust completely, and in exchange he depended on one person for all of it: his handler.
Apollo lived in a kennel at the home of that handler, Derrick A. Durall, who had served as the department's K-9 handler since December 2020. Alongside Apollo lived Knox, the department's retired K-9, who had already finished his years of service and deserved a peaceful retirement.
Neither dog could ask for help. Neither dog could leave. What happened to them next was documented by veterinarians, investigators and the courts.
What happened
Court documents state that between September 2023 and February 2024, Durall failed to provide Apollo and Knox with adequate food and water. The result was Apollo's death and serious harm to Knox.
Apollo's last veterinary visit while alive. He is roughly 25 pounds heavier than he will be five months later. According to court documents, the period of neglect begins.
Apollo and Knox, kept in separate kennels at their handler's home, are denied adequate food and water.
Apollo is found dead in his kennel. The veterinary exam records decreased muscle mass and sunken eyes from malnutrition and dehydration. He also had pneumonia, which the veterinarian said is common in malnourished dogs and was likely the final event that led to his death. His condition was not caused by the pneumonia. It was caused by starvation.
Apollo's weight at the veterinary exam after his death. He had lost about 25 pounds, more than a third of his body, since September 2023.
Knox is examined. He has severe heartworms, severely worn teeth, has lost about 10 pounds, and is described by the veterinarian as generally unkept. He survives.
The Dexter Board of Aldermen votes to fire Durall from the Dexter Police Department.
Durall pleads guilty to two counts of misdemeanor animal abuse.
Knox made it out. Apollo did not. This site exists so that what was done to both of them is not quietly forgotten.
The sentence
Apollo, in a kennel he could not leave
Durall, after pleading guilty
- ChargesTwo counts of misdemeanor animal abuse, guilty plea
- Jail sentenceOne year, suspended by the judge
- Time actually served15 days in the Dunklin County Jail
- ProbationTwo years, supervised
- Restitution$8,900 to the City of Dexter
The restitution went to the city, for the value of its K-9. Apollo was not property that depreciated. He was a partner who trusted the person feeding him, until the feeding stopped.
The system failed him twice
The law protects K-9s from strangers, not from their handlers
Missouri takes harming a police dog seriously, when the harm comes from the outside.
A stranger who attacked and killed Apollo would face a felony. But Max's Law covers assault. It has nothing to say about the handler who simply stops filling the bowl. Starving a K-9 to death over five months was charged as ordinary misdemeanor animal abuse, and the result was fifteen days. The people the law trusts most with these dogs face the least consequence for destroying them.
The department that owned him never noticed
Apollo was not a stray hidden away from the world. He was the Dexter Police Department's own active-duty K-9, an asset it valued at $8,900, in the custody of its own officer.
- Who saw Apollo between September 2023 and February 18, 2024?
- Was any welfare check or kennel inspection ever performed?
- How does a department's working dog lose a third of his body weight unnoticed?
A dog does not starve in a day. Apollo declined for months, and no policy, no supervisor and no inspection caught it while he was still alive. Any department that fields a K-9 owes that dog independent eyes on his welfare. Dexter's system, if one existed, found Apollo only after he was dead.
Take action
Share Apollo's story
Fifteen days fades from the news cycle quickly. Public memory is the only sentence that lasts. Share this page so Apollo's name outlives the headline.
Ask Missouri to close the gap
Attacking a K-9 is a felony. Starving one to death as its handler was two misdemeanors. If you believe a handler's fatal neglect of a working dog deserves felony-level penalties, tell the people who write Missouri's laws.
Speak up when something is wrong
Apollo declined for months in a kennel at a private home. If you see an animal that is thin, unkept, or without food and water, report it to local animal control or law enforcement. One phone call in the fall of 2023 might have changed how this story ends.
He carried the name of the missions that reached the moon.
Take Apollo there.
The courts gave Apollo fifteen days of justice. The internet keeps its own score. Apollo is a community memecoin launched in his name on pump.fun, so that the dog the system forgot becomes the name nobody can ignore.
CLd4sKq53pWpjqwaUG3EBnqFMf8242GnZqvPyyqepump
Apollo is a community-created memecoin. It is highly speculative and volatile, and its value can go to zero. It is not issued by, or affiliated with, the City of Dexter, the Dexter Police Department, or any charity or government body, and nothing on this page is financial advice. Always verify the contract address before trading, and never risk money you cannot afford to lose.