In the summer of 2018, concern for 30-year-old Jessie Sumlar grew when his mother was unable to reach him. This prompted her to call his Northside Jacksonville apartment complex on July 19, 2018, to request a welfare check. A maintenance worker entering the apartment at the Water's Edge complex on Broward Road made a grim discovery. Jessie Sumlar, a Black male, was found deceased, having been brutally killed. The scene within the apartment was violent, with blood splattered around the space.
Investigators determined that Sumlar had been stabbed 18 times and his throat had been slashed. It was later believed he had been killed two or three days earlier, sometime between July 16 and July 17. The initial investigation revealed that several of Sumlar's belongings were missing, including his wallet, multiple pairs of shoes, and his car.
Detectives with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office quickly discovered that Sumlar's credit cards had been used multiple times after his death. This led them to obtain surveillance footage from several downtown Jacksonville ATMs, which captured a man using the stolen cards. After releasing images to the public, an anonymous tip identified the man as Omar Lewis. The investigation further solidified Lewis as the primary suspect when Sumlar's stolen Chevrolet Impala was found on July 20, set on fire in front of a business just half a mile from a former residence of Lewis. The forensic evidence gathered from Sumlar's apartment provided a direct link to Lewis. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement matched his DNA to a cigar butt left at the scene. Additionally, a bloody fingerprint found on the blinds was a match to Lewis's, and a bloody shoeprint matched a pair of his shoes that were later found at his girlfriend's apartment.
Following the mounting evidence, Omar Lewis was arrested and charged with Sumlar's murder. Although initially indicted on a charge of first-degree murder, Lewis later entered into a plea agreement. On October 17, 2024, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder. Subsequently, the Honorable Anthony Salem sentenced Omar Lewis to life in Florida State Prison for the murder of Jessie Sumlar. The case, which had caused significant fear within Jacksonville's LGBTQ+ community due to a series of violent crimes against its members that year, was brought to a legal conclusion. The investigation successfully pieced together a trail of stolen credit card usage and forensic evidence to identify the perpetrator, leading to the arrest, guilty plea, and life sentence of Omar Lewis for the violent and tragic death of Jessie Sumlar.
