Escaped killer returned to jail after shooting spree
September 27, 1988
Convicted murderer Jessie Donald Sumner, 51, who escaped from the Pontiac Correctional Center and was captured Monday night north of Sycamore, was returned to Kendall County late last night.
Sumner’s last of four hostages, department of correction employee Ed Oller, was treated and released from Kishwaukee Community Hospital Monday night. Witnesses said Oller received leg injuries when he jumped from the moving truck he and Sumner were riding in.
Rich Herron, media coordinator for the Kendall County Sheriff’s Department, said that no formal charges against Sumner have been filed yet. He said Kendall County officials are in contact with Will and DeKalb County State’s Attorneys because Sumner passed through all three counties after escaping from a Joliet store.
Sumner was being fitted for a new hearing aid when he overcame two correctional officers, taking them and a store employee hostage. Sumner was armed with a .38-caliber revolver, belonging to one of the correctional officers, and a homemade derringer.
He and the three hostages drove north to Yorkville, where he released the store employee and one corrections officer. Sumner then stole a red pickup truck and took the driver hostage temporarily. The driver was also later released in Yorkville.
Sumner and the last hostage were spotted by DeKalb Police Officer Carl Leoni as the truck passed the DeKalb County Jail. Three squad cars pursued the truck to a rural area north of Sycamore past the intersection of Brickville Road and Sunset Drive.