Authorities say Iowa nurse, officer killed during escape attempt by inmates

ANAMOSA, Iowa  – Officials have identified the nurse and correctional officer killed Tuesday during an escape attempt at an Iowa prison.

During a news conference, officials identified the nurse as 50-year-old Lorena Schulte and the officer as 46-year-old Robert McFarland.

The Iowa Department of Corrections says Schulte and McFarland were attacked Tuesday morning at the correctional facility in Anamosa.

Investigators say two inmates, Michael Dutcher and Thomas Woodard, were trying to escape the prison using tools they acquired as a part of the prison’s work program.

The two inmates allegedly broke a window and used a grinder to try to cut through the bars covering the window. Authorities say they were unsuccessful in getting through the bars.

According to investigators, when the two inmates failed to escape they entered the prison’s breakroom and Schulte and Woodard attempted to stop them.

Authorities say the inmates used two hammers to attack McFarland and Schulte. An affidavit filed for the incident states the two staff members received severe head injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene by first-responders.

“Two wonderful people had their lives taken when they were simply trying to do their jobs in Anamosa,” said Beth Skinner, the director for the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Another person, inmate McKinley Roby, was also present in the breakroom during the attack. Roby sustained multiple skull fractures but is expected to survive.

At one point, another staff member, Lori Mathis, tried to aid her co-workers and was grabbed by Dutcher. Investigators say she was threatened by Dutcher and Woodard and was held against her will.

Mathis was later released when Dutcher ran out of the breakroom. Other prison staff members saw Dutcher running from the breakroom covered in blood, he was apprehended shortly after.

When officers entered the break area they found Woodard lying on the floor.

An affidavit says Woodard made admissions placing him in the room at the time of the attacks and a witness identified him as the person who attacked and killed Schulte. It also says Dutcher made an admission placing him in the room and admitted responsibility for causing the staff members’ deaths.

Dutcher and Woodard have both been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping and attempted murder. Authorities are continuing the investigation and are still interviewing witnesses in the case.

Both Dutcher and Woodard have connections to Woodbury County.

Woodward was sentenced in Woodbury County in 2017 to 25 years for robbery in the first degree and burglary in the first degree from a crime back in 2014.

Dutcher was arrested in 2014 for robbing two Sioux City motels. He was also arrested that same year for a bank robbery in Holstein, Iowa.

That bank robbery happened at the United Bank of Iowa in Holstein in July of 2014. Dutcher was later arrested by the Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office in Sioux City on that case.