Brickeys Unit Guard Stabbed to Death by Convicted Murderer

BRICKEY, LEE COUNTY, AR -- The Arkansas Democrat Gazette is reporting that Sgt. Barbara Easter was stabbed to death today by a convicted murderer at the East Arkansas Regional Unit of the Arkansas Department of Corrections. She entered the cell to investigate whether the inmate had an unauthorized pair of shoes.

Easter, who as stabbed in the side, abdomen and chest around 12:30 p.m., died around 3:00 p.m. at a Memphis Hospital which is about 40 miles northeast of the unit. Sgt. Easter was 12 year veteran with the department.

The prisoner accused of stabbing Easter was moved to the state's maximum security unit at Varner. Neither the inmate's name nor gender was released.