Brett Myers

Myers fell seriously ill in October 2026 and was admitted to hospital. On 23 October he emailed the Whitman County commissioners a letter resigning as sheriff, effective at 5pm that day, because of illness. At an emergency meeting the commissioners unanimously appointed Undersheriff Keith Cooper as acting sheriff.

He died at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle at 11.05pm on 27 October 2026, aged 56. A statement from his wife and daughters, released through the sheriff's office on 28 October, said he had died after a short battle with a rare, aggressive neurological disease; the specific diagnosis was not made public. The family thanked relatives, friends, the law enforcement community and medical staff for their support.

The sheriff's office post drew hundreds of comments from former employees and residents, and sheriff's offices across Washington, including Okanogan and Stevens counties, publicly mourned him. Funeral arrangements had not been announced at the time of the statement.

Brett J. Myers grew up in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse farming region of Whitman County. He graduated from Pullman High School in 1988 and went on to Washington State University in Pullman, where he earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 1994, according to his 2022 campaign website.

Myers joined the Whitman County Sheriff's Office in 1996 as a patrol deputy and later served as a patrol and investigations sergeant, a post he held until 2003.

In 2002, aged 32, he ran against his own boss, Sheriff Steven R. Tomson, a 17 year incumbent, in the Republican primary. It became a heated contest; Myers argued that morale in the office was low and promised regular staff meetings, saying he had never attended one in his time there. He won the primary, was elected in November 2002 and was sworn in as sheriff in January 2003.

He was reelected five times. In 2014 he took 81 percent of the vote, and he then ran unopposed in three straight elections. In January 2026 he announced he would seek a seventh consecutive term, won 95 percent in the August primary and was the only candidate on the November ballot. Over his tenure he led policing for the county's small towns and farmland and ran the county jail. The Stevens County Sheriff's Office described him as the longest sitting sheriff in Washington.

Myers was married to Darcell Myers, and the couple had two daughters. In their statement after his death, the family said they found comfort in their faith. Colleagues described him as humble, personable and down to earth, and Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels, who got to know him at state sheriffs' conferences, summed him up as a man of character and integrity.

Myers led the Whitman County Sheriff's Office for almost a quarter of a century, one of the longest tenures of any sheriff in Washington. Officials credited him with building a department that treated the public, and even suspects, with respect, and said the leadership he passed on to Keith Cooper and others would carry the office forward. Neighbouring Latah County Sheriff Richie Skiles said: "A lot of people have been sheriff. Only a few that did it right, and I think he's one of them."