Blunt force by a hammer. That’s what killed a nurse and guard killed at the Anamosa State Prison as two inmates were trying to escape. DCI Special Agent Rick Rahn identified them as registered nurse  Lorena  Schulte and correctional officer Robert McFarland.

Thomas Woodard and Michael Dutcher were trying to escape the facility and the two staff members tried to stop them Iowa Department of Corrections director Beth Skinner also spoke during the news conference held on the sidewalk outside the prison and said the murders were “pure evil”

Skinner said an internal investigation is underway to determine exactly how the inmates were able to acquire tools from a work program inside the facility that led to the killings.

Schulte had worked at the prison since 2007. McFarland had been a correctional officer at Anamosa since 2008.