Last of Three Inmates Sought After Using Bedsheets to Escape from Louisiana Jail
Authorities continued to search over the weekend for the last of three inmates who escaped from a Louisiana prison in cinematic fashion by using tied sheets to scale a wall and then lower themselves from the prison roof.
First, inmates allegedly removed concrete blocks from a deteriorating wall, then used the sheets to escape from Landry Parish Prison in Opelousas, a parish seat of about 15,000 located about 130 miles northwest of New Orleans.
Police on Saturday were looking for leads to find Keith Eli, 24, who had been at large for three days, sheriff’s office spokesman Mark LeBlanc told The Associated Press.
Eli had been imprisoned for second-degree murder.
“We would prefer that he surrender peacefully,” St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz said in a statement. “But we will not rest until he is captured.”
The two other escapees are no longer missing. One of them, Johnathan Jevon Joseph, 24, imprisoned for rape and other crimes, was captured Friday after a brief chase.
Joseph was hiding in a house, authorities said, and he ran to a nearby storage shed where he eventually surrendered, LeBlanc said.
Police found the third inmate, Joseph Allen Harrington, 26, at his home Thursday. They used a loudspeaker to urge him to come out and surrender, Port Barre Police Chief Deon Boudreaux said, but the confrontation ended when the inmate shot himself with a shotgun.
Prior to his escape, Harrington was facing several criminal charges, including home invasion.
Louisiana was the scene of another daring escape earlier this year when ten inmates escaped from a New Orleans prison by crawling through a hole behind a toilet.
The escape made national headlines after it was discovered that the escapees had left a note saying: “To [sic] Easy lol. It took five months before all ten were finally captured.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the bestselling author of Below the line and nine other mystery novels and non-fiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com to find out more.
