A 29-Year Journey Home

On April 20, 1995, Daniel Muehlhausen graduated from the CHP academy in West Sacramento.  The CHP issued him badge number 13933 and assigned him to the Indio area.  On June 1, 1997, just over two years since he graduated, he received a call to help a stranded motorist on Highway 62 east of Highway 177.  For a motorist to be stranded in this area, the event can be life threatening. This is the section of the Mojave Desert where General Patton’s troops trained for war in the North African desert in WW II. This is also the area where the U.S. Marine Corps’ Air Ground Combat Center is located.  It is a hot, dry, desolate location. It is one of those two-lane stretches that go straight on in either direction to the horizon.

A teen-age driver and his passenger in a mini pickup suddenly pulled across the centerline to pass another vehicle.  They struck Officer Muehlhausen’s approaching vehicle head on.  The collision killed all three people instantly and flames consumed both vehicles.  This was the second line-of-duty death from the Indio office in less than a month. The small office was devastated.  Since Officer Muehlhausen was unmarried, the CHP gave his possessions to his parents.  When his mother passed away earlier in 2026, everything went into an estate sale.

I started hearing some items that once belonged to an officer killed in the line of duty were coming up for auction.  Academy Officer Ryan Bushey sent me a link to the auction site.  My wife and I saw the images of the burned badge and we knew these items belonged in the CHP Museum. 

I called former Commissioner and fellow museum board member Spike Helmick. He agreed we had to do whatever was necessary to get those items.  We desperately called for assistance to two CHP retiree groups who donated several thousand dollars to the museum’s PayPal account within hours.  Everyone I asked was eager to help.  Both the CAHP and the Indio squad sent donation checks. Those checks and a very generous donation from a retired chief, gave us the confidence to bid high on five lots of Officer Muehlhausen’s possessions. After a few tense moments in the live auction, we were able to secure all the items we bid on.  

I called Southern Division Chief Margaris to ask if someone could pick the items up from the L.A.-based auction house. Once again, I was amazed at the response. A two-person honor guard from Southern Division picked up the items.  The honor guard went to the Indio Area office where, joined by two Indio sergeants, they proceeded to the CHP Academy. In a brief ceremony, the contingent handed Officer Muehlhausen’s possessions off to Academy Commander Assistant Chief Diaz and me, representing the CHP Museum.  The CHP badge that left the academy in 1995 had returned home. Currently, we are preparing a display for the badge (photo credit to Michael Wong) and some of the items. We will loan other items to the CHP Indio office for display. 

This is really two stories. One is the story of a young officer who died while protecting the motorists of California. This is also a second story of how, 29 years after his death, several groups of people, most of whom did not know him, came together quickly and without hesitation, to make sure he is properly honored and will never be forgotten.