Sheriff
Milo 'Mike' Lewis
Pulaski County Sheriff's Department
Wednesday, October 11, 1967

Age: 50
Served: 9 months
Badge #: 1
Panel 56W, Line 6
Panel L17, Line 8

Incident Details

Cause of Death:
Gunfire
Date/Time of Incident:
Wednesday, October 11, 1967
08:15 am
Incident to Death Duration:
Same day
Incident Location:
112 East Main Street, Winamac
Incident County:
Pulaski
Incident Township:
Monroe
Weapon Used:
.25-caliber handgun
Suspect Disposition:
Paroled in 1992
Burial Place:
Riverside Memorial Cemetery, Monterey

Share this Memorial
   

   Sheriff Milo Lewis was shot and killed by a prisoner during an escape from the Pulaski County Jail.

   The 29-year-old male was being held on a charge of robbery of a tavern in South Bend. His trial had been transferred on a change of venue to Starke County but their jail was considered less secure.

   The prisoner's girlfriend had hidden a gun inside a book which was given to the man during a visitation. When he asked to leave his cell to make a phone call and Sheriff Lewis complied, he pulled the gun.

   Sheriff Lewis attempted to disarm him with the jail keys but the prisoner shot several times, fatally striking the sheriff twice. He was taken to Pulaski County Memorial Hospital where he later died.

   The prisoner locked the sheriff and a deputy in a cell and fled in the deputy's vehicle, which was found abandoned at U.S. 30 and 421 in Wanatah. He was arrested in South Bend two days later, convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

   In November 1968, he and another inmate escaped from the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City by hiding in a garbage truck. He was captured two months later in Los Angeles in connection with an attempted rape and robbery committed there.

   Sheriff Lewis, a Republican from Winamac, was in the first year of his four-year term in office and was survived by his wife and three daughters.

Military Service


United States Naval Reserve
World War II
Seaman Second Class (S2) ▪ 1945–1946

Historic Place


The Pulaski County Courthouse, at 112 East Main Street in Winamac, was built in 1895. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 19, 2007 and listed on the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures on October 24, 2007.



View all fallen officers from the
Pulaski County Sheriff's Department

Donate in memory of
Sheriff Lewis
Sheriff Milo 'Mike' Lewis - Pulaski County Sheriff's Department - INLEM.org