Robert Lee Jester
Agency patch
Officer

Robert Lee Jester

Miami Police Department — Miami, FL
Felonious
End of Watch November 18, 1933
Age 40
Tour of Duty 10 yrs
The Vigil Panel 148 ›
Gender Male

Incident

Officer Robert Jester was shot and killed by two bank robbers in a shootout in downtown Miami. He and another officer recognized two men wanted for a bank robbery in Reading, Pennsylvania, as they entered the Seminole Hotel at 53 E. Flagler Street. When the officers ordered the men to stop they turned and opened fire fatally wounding Officer Jester. Officer Jester's partner returned fire killing one suspect and wounding the other. That wounded suspect escaped but was apprehended one hour later. The captured suspect, a 17-year-old boy, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 1938 he was given the nickname Houdini after he escaped three times in one year. Each time he was captured within a few weeks in Colorado, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. In 1952 he was added to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list after he escaped from a prison work farm. He was apprehended one year later in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He was released from prison in 1958. Officer Jester had served with the Miami Police Department for 10 years.

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August 2, 2026
Last updated
August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Officer Jester gave the Miami Police Department 10 years.
Thank you for your service to the Miami community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Officer Jester.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Type Police Department
Location Miami, Miami-Dade County, FL
Platform Identity mpd.miamidade.fl.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch November 18, 1933
Tour of Duty 10 yrs
Age 40
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious
Weapon Gun

The Sacrifice · Felonious

Robert is one of 15,743 officers killed feloniously in the United States, 57.1% of the 27,551 remembered there.

34,117 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

  1. See the roll
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Compare against
I

Time

In 1933, 184 officers in the United States were killed feloniously, the 15th heaviest of 213 years on record. The heaviest was 1921, with 248.

Every year on record · United States
II

Who

Robert was 40. Of the 14,220 killed feloniously in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 31 and 47; the middle age was 38. Robert had served 10 years; the middle length of service was 6 years.

Age at death
Where he stood among them
Age by years of service
III

When

November holds 8.1% of these deaths in the United States; December holds the most, 9.4%. Saturdays: 16.3%.

By month
By day of the week
IV

How

Felonious deaths account for 57.1% of all 27,551 deaths in the United States, the most common cause. The weapon recorded was gun, in 22.8% of these deaths.

Every cause
Weapons recorded
V

His people

Miami Police Department has 39 officers remembered here, Robert among them.

VI

Where

Officer Robert Lee Jester

Miami Police Department · End of Watch November 18, 1933

Where the Name Is Cut

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial · Panel 41-E

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