In the early 1960s, Sumner and his alleged accomplice, 40-year-old Herschel Williams Jr., participated in several robberies and hold-ups of various establishments, most notable of which were the Farmers State Bank in Heyworth and a credit union in Bloomington.
[1] Chief among them was the fact that he had bought two barrels and that the body was later found in one of them; that the body was positively identified as Williams' by his wife, who recognized a wallet found on it; and the testimony of two inmates at the Pontiac Correctional Center, Larry F. Myers and John Curtis, who claimed that Sumner had repeatedly told them that he had killed Williams.
On December 22, 20-year-old Rae Ann Schneider, a drive-in waitress working the night shift at a Steak 'n Shake in Normal, disappeared shortly after leaving her workplace.
[6] On July 19, Sumner was arrested on a parole violation charge after his wife reported that he had beaten her to such an extent that required her to be hospitalized.
During his incarceration, he was interrogated by the McLean County Sheriff John W. King in relation to the recent disappearances, and was asked to undergo a polygraph test.
[7] On August 4, just two days after his incest charge, Sumner contacted the sheriffs and offered to lead them to where he had buried the bodies of Schneider and Huwe.
[8] After initially failing to locate them, Sumner eventually led them to the burial sites - the first being under his garage at the family home in Stanford, and the other being a ditch west of Danvers.
[8] Both women's remains showed signs of blunt force trauma, and were positively identified as belonging to Schneider and Huwe through their dental records.
[11] While awaiting trial on the murder charges, Sumner attempted to escape by sawing through the bars of his cell, but was caught before he could make any substantial dents on it.
[18] This motion was granted, in addition to a continuance in relation to the remaining charges, as Gaselle could not attend trial at the designated date and would thus be unprepared in building a defense for his client.
[20] While awaiting trial at the Tazewell County Jail, Sumner attempted to escape yet again, this time by sawing through his cell door with a sharpened piece of metal.
[23] On February 10, 1981, while serving his sentences at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Sumner was walking on a sidewalk in the central area when he was suddenly ambushed by another inmate, triple murderer Michael Drabing, who then stabbed him with a shank.
[28] For the rest of his life, Sumner remained incarcerated at the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, until he died from an undisclosed illness on December 4, 2005.