Post by CC on Jun 24, 2009 20:15:48 GMT -5
Prison escapee hid in trailer before being run off by owners
by Jeff Adelson
and Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune
Monday June 22, 2009, 2:55 PM
COURTESY ST. TAMMANY PARISH SHERIFF'S DEPT.
Timothy Wayne Murray is arrested Sunday, June 21, 2009, north of Covington after escaping from the parish jail with three others.
Read More
• Footprint leads deputies to fourth escaped inmate; breakout planned for a year
• Latest north shore news
After two days on the lam, running through the woods in circles and hiding in creeks and ponds to throw police dogs off his track, Timothy Wayne Murray must have thought he stumbled upon paradise.
Breaking into an isolated mobile home north of Covington, set back hundreds of yards from the nearest road, the escaped St. Tammany Parish prisoner found all the things he had been without during his flight through the woods.
But after taking time to gorge himself on peanut butter cups and water, shower and shave off his distinctive facial hair, Murray found himself on the business end of a .38-caliber handgun wielded by the property's owner.
VIDEO: St. Tammany Sheriffs deputies capture fourth escapee
www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/officials_to_reveal_details_in.html
If Murray, armed with a steak knife, had taken "one more step" toward the man or his wife, he would have been shot, said the man, who asked not to be identified.
Murray fled, but the property owner's 9-1-1 call helped deputies tracking the suspected killer through some of the most wooded areas in the parish. They caught him hours later, hiding in a wood pile near Bennett Bridge Road.
As Murray, who bore the signs of a struggle with police in the blood that streamed from his nose and covered part of his face, was brought out of the woods, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office celebrated the end of a potentially nightmarish scenario: a jail break staged by four men awaiting trial or sentencing on murder or attempted-murder charges.
"Murray obviously presented us with the biggest challenge, " Sheriff Jack Strain said at a news conference Monday, flanked by officers from his department, the U.S. Customs Office and the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, all of which helped in the search.
Well-planned prison break
Murray, 30, along with Eric Buras, Jason Gainey and Gary "Fuzzy" Slaydon, broke out of the jail in Covington on Thursday about 9 p.m. The Sheriff's Office has released few details of the escape but said the men had been planning their break for up to a year. None of the men was a "profit prisoner, " or those held for the state Department of Corrections.
The men apparently took advantage of the fact that through a design or construction defect, a portion of the jail structure had screws about half the size they should have been, Strain said. The men, who had been dieting in preparation for their escape, slipped through a breach and into the jail yard.
Once there, they cut the retaining wires that held an inner fence to its posts, slipped under the fence and ran to hide under the guard tower, Strain said. From there, they used a pillow to protect themselves as they climbed over the razor wire on the outer fence, he said.
Strain did not say what the men used to cut through the wires, and investigators are looking into how the prisoners got the tools to do so.
Typically, contraband comes into the prison through trusties, inmates who are given special privileges and often perform small jobs outside the jail. The Sheriff's Office has not ruled out the possibility that a deputy was involved in the break-out, and both criminal and internal affairs investigations are under way, Strain said.
The other three prisoners were caught together early Friday morning after leaving behind Murray, who cut himself on the razor wire. Strain said it's possible that Murray, who had experience dealing with wooded areas, hoped deputies would chase the larger group, giving him a chance to escape in the opposite direction.
Murray's location remained a mystery until late Saturday afternoon, when a deputy with the department's Street Crimes Unit found a footprint in a field between Covington High School and the Covington Airport. Another officer, Sgt. Sid Jenkins, and Duke, his bloodhound, were able to track Murray from there, eventually learning they were on the right track when the couple in the trailer called.
Jenkins said he was probably unable to find Murray on Friday morning because Duke was tired from tracking the other three escapees. As deputies searched the woods near U.S. 190 and Louisiana 25 on Friday morning, Murray heard them coming and was able to slip through their lines.
Broken nose and dog bites
Murray's defense attorney, Dwight Doskey, said Monday that deputies beat his client with flashlights, breaking his nose, before arresting him and said Murray was bitten several times by a police dog after he was captured. Strain said all of Murray's injuries came while he struggled with deputies.
Doskey, who is working for Murray through the Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana, met with Murray in the St. Tammany Parish jail Monday and said he plans to ask state Judge William J. "Will" Crain to allow his client to be treated for his injuries and receive pain medicine and to get photos of the injuries.
Doskey acknowledged that his client is a flight risk, but said, "They can do a lot more for him." Deputies denied Murray's request to go to the hospital after his arrest, Doskey said.
This is not the first time the K-9 officer who apprehended Murray, Deputy Scott Winthers, has been involved in a major case. Last year, Winthers was searching a burglarized home when the suspect jumped out of a closet and cut him with a pair of pruning shears. Winthers fired several times and hit the man three times, killing him.
The Sheriff's Office determined Winthers did nothing wrong and he later was honored by a magazine devoted to police dogs and their handlers.
Officials have refrained from discussing the central element of the breakout, how exactly the inmates got out of the jail. Strain said the Sheriff's Office is working to correct the problem and alert other agencies that use jails built at the same time. He said he will not provide additional information until he believes it will not aid in other escapes.
"We're probably weeks away from a final conclusion, " he said.
by Jeff Adelson
and Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune
Monday June 22, 2009, 2:55 PM
COURTESY ST. TAMMANY PARISH SHERIFF'S DEPT.
Timothy Wayne Murray is arrested Sunday, June 21, 2009, north of Covington after escaping from the parish jail with three others.
Read More
• Footprint leads deputies to fourth escaped inmate; breakout planned for a year
• Latest north shore news
After two days on the lam, running through the woods in circles and hiding in creeks and ponds to throw police dogs off his track, Timothy Wayne Murray must have thought he stumbled upon paradise.
Breaking into an isolated mobile home north of Covington, set back hundreds of yards from the nearest road, the escaped St. Tammany Parish prisoner found all the things he had been without during his flight through the woods.
But after taking time to gorge himself on peanut butter cups and water, shower and shave off his distinctive facial hair, Murray found himself on the business end of a .38-caliber handgun wielded by the property's owner.
VIDEO: St. Tammany Sheriffs deputies capture fourth escapee
www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/officials_to_reveal_details_in.html
If Murray, armed with a steak knife, had taken "one more step" toward the man or his wife, he would have been shot, said the man, who asked not to be identified.
Murray fled, but the property owner's 9-1-1 call helped deputies tracking the suspected killer through some of the most wooded areas in the parish. They caught him hours later, hiding in a wood pile near Bennett Bridge Road.
As Murray, who bore the signs of a struggle with police in the blood that streamed from his nose and covered part of his face, was brought out of the woods, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office celebrated the end of a potentially nightmarish scenario: a jail break staged by four men awaiting trial or sentencing on murder or attempted-murder charges.
"Murray obviously presented us with the biggest challenge, " Sheriff Jack Strain said at a news conference Monday, flanked by officers from his department, the U.S. Customs Office and the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, all of which helped in the search.
Well-planned prison break
Murray, 30, along with Eric Buras, Jason Gainey and Gary "Fuzzy" Slaydon, broke out of the jail in Covington on Thursday about 9 p.m. The Sheriff's Office has released few details of the escape but said the men had been planning their break for up to a year. None of the men was a "profit prisoner, " or those held for the state Department of Corrections.
The men apparently took advantage of the fact that through a design or construction defect, a portion of the jail structure had screws about half the size they should have been, Strain said. The men, who had been dieting in preparation for their escape, slipped through a breach and into the jail yard.
Once there, they cut the retaining wires that held an inner fence to its posts, slipped under the fence and ran to hide under the guard tower, Strain said. From there, they used a pillow to protect themselves as they climbed over the razor wire on the outer fence, he said.
Strain did not say what the men used to cut through the wires, and investigators are looking into how the prisoners got the tools to do so.
Typically, contraband comes into the prison through trusties, inmates who are given special privileges and often perform small jobs outside the jail. The Sheriff's Office has not ruled out the possibility that a deputy was involved in the break-out, and both criminal and internal affairs investigations are under way, Strain said.
The other three prisoners were caught together early Friday morning after leaving behind Murray, who cut himself on the razor wire. Strain said it's possible that Murray, who had experience dealing with wooded areas, hoped deputies would chase the larger group, giving him a chance to escape in the opposite direction.
Murray's location remained a mystery until late Saturday afternoon, when a deputy with the department's Street Crimes Unit found a footprint in a field between Covington High School and the Covington Airport. Another officer, Sgt. Sid Jenkins, and Duke, his bloodhound, were able to track Murray from there, eventually learning they were on the right track when the couple in the trailer called.
Jenkins said he was probably unable to find Murray on Friday morning because Duke was tired from tracking the other three escapees. As deputies searched the woods near U.S. 190 and Louisiana 25 on Friday morning, Murray heard them coming and was able to slip through their lines.
Broken nose and dog bites
Murray's defense attorney, Dwight Doskey, said Monday that deputies beat his client with flashlights, breaking his nose, before arresting him and said Murray was bitten several times by a police dog after he was captured. Strain said all of Murray's injuries came while he struggled with deputies.
Doskey, who is working for Murray through the Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana, met with Murray in the St. Tammany Parish jail Monday and said he plans to ask state Judge William J. "Will" Crain to allow his client to be treated for his injuries and receive pain medicine and to get photos of the injuries.
Doskey acknowledged that his client is a flight risk, but said, "They can do a lot more for him." Deputies denied Murray's request to go to the hospital after his arrest, Doskey said.
This is not the first time the K-9 officer who apprehended Murray, Deputy Scott Winthers, has been involved in a major case. Last year, Winthers was searching a burglarized home when the suspect jumped out of a closet and cut him with a pair of pruning shears. Winthers fired several times and hit the man three times, killing him.
The Sheriff's Office determined Winthers did nothing wrong and he later was honored by a magazine devoted to police dogs and their handlers.
Officials have refrained from discussing the central element of the breakout, how exactly the inmates got out of the jail. Strain said the Sheriff's Office is working to correct the problem and alert other agencies that use jails built at the same time. He said he will not provide additional information until he believes it will not aid in other escapes.
"We're probably weeks away from a final conclusion, " he said.