Guard Lester B. Sumner

Lester B. Sumner

Guard Lester Sumner was stabbed to death with a makeshift bayonet when he was attacked by three inmates at the Fort Myers Road Prison.

Guard Sumner was overseeing four inmates who were mowing grass on Punta Passa Road, in Lee County, when three of them suddenly attacked him and his driver. After they killed Guard Sumner, they tied his driver to a nearby tree and fled in the prison truck. Two were captured later that day by a state trooper near Naples after he saw them abandoning the stolen truck. One admitted that he stabbed Guard Sumner and said it was an accident. The third inmate escaped into the nearby Everglades.

Guard Sumner's body was found in the back of the truck. The third inmate was captured by FBI agents six months later in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

All three inmates, 21, 21, and 26, were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life on February 10th, 1966.

Guard Sumner was a WWII veteran. He was survived by his wife and five children.