Alonzo Lanphear

Corrections Officer Alonzo Lanphear suffered a fatal heart attack while searching the New Jersey State Prison grounds for an inmate who had attacked another officer and escaped from the death row facility.

The inmate was able to trick the officer into coming close enough to his cell that he was able to capture him with a shank and tie his hands to the cell door with torn bed sheets. With the assistance of other inmates, he was able to use a mop handle to move the officer's desk close enough to the cells to obtain tools to break out of the cells.

The inmate put on the officer's uniform and made it to the death house roof before the alarm was sounded. Officer Lanphear obtained a heavy multi-barrel revolving gas gun and was searching the prison grounds when he suddenly collapsed. The escaped inmate was located on the roof and was shot and killed when he attempted to flee.

Officer Lanphear was a WWI veteran. He was survived by his wife, five children, and five grandchildren.