Two inmates who escaped from an Ohio prison this week did so by concealing themselves in a dumpster, the state department of corrections said Friday as a search for one of the men continued.
Bradley Gillespie, 50, who was convicted of two counts of murder and was sentenced to two consecutive 15-to-life sentences in 2016, remained on the loose Friday, and officials in Kentucky were mounting a manhunt.
The other inmate, James Lee, 47, who escaped from the Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution has been captured, officials have said.
The two men escaped from the prison in Lima, around 80 miles northwest of Columbus “after concealing themselves in a dumpster,” the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said in a statement Friday.
They were discovered missing during a prisoner count at 11 a.m. Tuesday, the department has said.
Officials then determined the men were last seen on surveillance video inside the facility just after 8:40 a.m. Monday, it said.
Lee was captured by police in Henderson, Kentucky, on Wednesday after police chased a stolen car that officials believe also contained Gillespie.
The car crashed, they fled on foot and Lee was arrested but Gillespie is believed to have evaded police, authorities have said.
The search continued in Henderson, a city of around 27,000 on the banks of the Ohio River across the border from Indiana, police there said Friday.
“We’ve been going around the clock,” Henderson Police Chief Sean McKinney said Friday.
The search has involved forward-looking infrared, or FLIR, devices on helicopters, ground canvasses and dogs, and five boats in the Ohio River checking islands and the shoreline, McKinney said.
Video of the two men at a Home Depot parking lot in Evansville, Indiana, around six hours before Wednesday’s pursuit also shows Gillespie with a pronounced limp, McKinney said.
“It is our belief that he was injured during his escape in Ohio,” he said.
Gillespie is 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, and in the video, he was seen wearing dark pants and a white shirt, but that was several days ago, police said.
Meanwhile in Ohio, four corrections department employees have been placed on paid administrative leave as an investigation into the jailbreak continues, the department said.
They are a major and three corrections officers. There is an internal investigation by the corrections departmen and a criminal investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the corrections department said.
Source: NBC
