Female prison guard fatally stabbed by convicted murderer in Arkansas

BRICKEYS, Ark. – A female guard was stabbed to death Friday by an inmate at a prison in eastern Arkansas, KTHV-TV reported.

Sgt. Barbara Ester was killed by 30-year-old convicted murderer Latavious Johnson at the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys, Ark., after she noticed he was in possession of contraband sneakers, according to Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC) spokesperson Shea Wilson.

Wilson said Johnson, who was serving life without parole for first-degree murder, stabbed 47-year-old Ester at least twice in the stomach with a shank -- a homemade knife.

Ester, a 12-year employee of the ADC, made it to the infirmary and was transported to a hospital in Memphis, Tenn., about 50 miles northeast of the prison, where she later died.

Johnson has been moved to the maximum security wing of the prison and will soon be moved to a high security prison in Varner, Ark., roughly 80 miles southeast of Little Rock, Wilson said.