Date of Death: January 8, 1969 as the direct result of adversarial action in Washington, D.C.
Cause of Death: Special Agents Edwin R. Woodriffe and Anthony Palmisano were shot and killed on January 8, 1969, by escaped federal prisoner Billie Austin Bryant. The agents had just entered a Southeast Washington, D.C. apartment building, where Bryant was hiding, when the escaped prisoner shot both agents in the hallway. Bryant had escaped from nearby Lorton Prison in August 1968. He had been serving a sentence of 15 to 63 years for robbery and assault. Bryant was apprehended, tried, and found guilty of the two murders. He received a life sentence for each murder. Special Agent Woodriffe was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1941. After earning his degree from Fordham University in New York and working in the U.S. Treasury Department, he accepted an appointment as a special agent with the FBI. In February 1968, Special Agent Woodriffe transferred to the field office in Washington, D.C.
Burial Location:
Cypress Hills Cemetery
Garden of Memory, Section 15, Block 3, Lot 42C, Grave 3