202-905-8885 [email protected]
DEA Survivors Benefit Fund

Detective Stephen J. Strehl, a St. Louis, Missouri, Police Officer, was killed in a helicopter crash on November 19, 1993, while conducting a surveillance mission of a suspected indoor marijuana grow site. Strehl was assigned to a Drug Enforcement Administration task force at the time of his death. He was 35 years of age. The DEA pilot, Special Agent Hawthorne I. Lee, suffered severe head and leg injuries as a result of the crash. Officer Strehl was survived by his wife, Kathryn, and three sons, Stephen, Sean, and Michael.

The Survivors Benefit Fund is not part of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) or Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) but, instead, is a private 501(c)(3) organization that supports the families of DEA agents, employees, and task force officers who gave their lives in the line-of-duty. Neither the DOJ nor DEA approves, endorses, or authorizes the Survivors Benefit Fund, its materials, or its fundraising efforts.