KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The visitation and funeral service for Kansas City, Missouri, Police Officer James Muhlbauer along with his K-9 partner, Champ, will take place this Wednesday, one week after the tragic crash that also left a pedestrian dead.
Vern Muhlbauer, James' father, believes it will take a "tremendous amount of work" to get through not just the funeral, but the next few days as well.
Vern and James' mother, Chris Muhlbauer, remember him fondly.
'He started off as our son, our child, obviously, and grew into a man and grew into someone that became a friend," Vern said.
They first found out about the passing of their son when their daughter-in-law texted them the following morning.
Vern was incredulous when he heard the news.
"I'm thinking, am I still sleeping? I'm sleeping, aren't I? This can't be real, this just can't be real that we've lost him," Vern said.
Chris, James' mother, also felt the shock of losing someone so close.
"It's not the way anyone wants to lose a loved one, let alone your son," Chris said.
They were in Hawaii on vacation just a week before hearing the news of their son's death.
"It's just so hard, things can change in that one moment," Chris said.
James, who served 20 years with KCPD, arrested quintuple murderer Brandon Howell in North Kansas City back in 2014. The long-time patrolman was described as "very competitive" by his father.
"Once he set his mind to it, he did his very best," Vern said.
James, commonly referred to as "Jim" by friends and family members, looked ahead to his future before it was cut short.
"He was going to retire from the force and then had all the dreams that he would talk about," Vern said. "He was going to buy land. He was going to move here, move there, do this, do that and all of that was taken from him."
Still, his memory lives on with the Muhlbauer family.
"He was a terrific son, a loving son," Vern said. "I'm happy to have known him. I'm happy that he was in my life."
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