Lexington history: Escaped inmates murdered six across Kentucky in 1973

Editor’s Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city’s history — some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.

Over the course of 10 hours on Oct. 1, 1973, a string of crimes left three Lexington residents and three others dead, shaking the city for months.

Sayre School, then located across the street from the Lexington Federal Building, was about to be dismissed for the day. Geraldine Ewalt was waiting for her daughter in the family car. She’d been reading a book, and closed her eyes for a moment as she waited for school to let out, she later testified.

Across the street, officials were moving 18 inmates from local jails to the federal building. Guards had searched the inmates as they left their jails, but federal marshals had not searched them again when they entered the holding cells in the federal building. Somehow, one of the inmates ended up in possession of a hacksaw blade, Lexington Public Librarian Wayne Johnson said on the “Tales from the Kentucky Room” podcast.

The inmate sawed through the bars on the window of the cell, and three prisoners escaped from their third-floor cellblock. One of the escapees broke his leg, but two others, William Sloan and Wilmer Scott, landed safely and ran from the building.

Nearby, Ewalt’s car was waiting and running. The two escapees yanked open the door and jumped into the car. Sloan moved in behind the wheel, while Scott forced her to give them directions to her home.

There, Ewalt’s son and another daughter were waiting. Ewalt later said she tried to fight the two men, but Scott threatened to kill her.

Once at the Ewalt home on Charlbury Court, the men tied the family up, ransacked the house and fled in the car. None of the Ewalts were injured, but while robbing the house, the escaped convicts took guns and money.

The next family the two men encountered wasn’t so lucky.

They drove to the home of Rev. John Barnes, his wife Mary Agnes and their two children, Francine, 17, and Johnny, 14. Francine was the only one at the Russell Cave Road home at the time. Her father was waiting for Johnny’s football practice to end, and her mother was away at an Episcopal convention.

Not long after the two men entered the house, Barnes and his son arrived, but it was too late.

Scott and Sloan were waiting. They had raped Francine, and the two men then killed all three of the Barnes family present and put their bodies in the bathroom.

After midnight, the two robbed a motel near Falmouth. After cleaning out the register, they forced Elva Harper, the motel’s night clerk, to let them into two guest rooms. Inside the first room, they shot David Stidham and Wendell McKenzie, injuring them. In the second room, they killed David and Monroe Sizemore.

The four men were in the city working on a construction project. Sloan and Scott then murdered Harper before fleeing the scene in the Sizemore brothers’ car.

Around 2 a.m., Sgt. Jack Westwood of the Campbell County Police Department noticed a speeding car heading north. As he was pursuing the car, an alert went over police radios about the motel murders.

Westwood pulled the speeding car over, then exited his car. Pulling his gun out, he held the driver and passenger there, shielded by the door of his patrol car, until backup could arrive.

Scott later said they had planned to shoot the officer, but Westwood stayed out of range.

After their arrest, the two were loaded into the back of cruisers and taken to the Campbell County Jail. Both of the men confessed en route. Scott told Westwood, “You should have shot me when you had the chance because today, I shot a man, woman and child in Lexington.”

Until that moment, no one was aware of the Barnes murders.

Police rushed to the Barnes home and found the three bodies.

Scott, who had a long record of violence, was brought to trial on the charge he was originally incarcerated for, a 1972 rape and kidnapping. During the proceedings, Scott told the court, “If I am back on the street, no matter how many doctors I’ve seen, I’ll do it again. If somebody makes a mistake, I’ll escape and kill somebody again, and that’s the truth.”

He was sentenced to life in prison.

In February 1974, Scott set fire to his cell mattress while he laid on it. Two days later, he died from the third-degree burns covering his body. He never faced trial for the Barnes murders or the murders in Falmouth.

Sloan was found guilty of all 11 crimes committed during the October murder spree during his April 1974 trial. Prior to that day in October, he was awaiting trial for auto theft, which generally carries a sentence of less than 10 years. He was sentenced to life with no possibility of parole, and is still incarcerated in the Kentucky Corrections system.

Have a question or story idea related to Lexington’s 250-year history? Let us know at 250LexKy@gmail.com.