Latest news with #escapees
CBS News
4 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Cash reward hiked to $50,000 as manhunt continues for 2 New Orleans jail escapees still at large
New Orleans — As the search continues for the last two New Orleans jail escapees who are still at large, several agencies have pitched in to increase the cash reward for information leading to their arrests. The reward has been hiked to $50,000 per escapee, authorities announced Thursday, a hefty increase from the $20,000 amount that had been in place for more than a week following the brazen May 16 escape of 10 inmates from the Orleans Justice Center. Eight of the 10 have been captured. One of the men still at large — Derrick Groves — was convicted of murder for the shooting deaths of Jamar Robinson and Byron Jackson in 2024. The other escapee — Antoine Massey — was being held on charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation prior to the jailbreak. Remaining 2 fugitives may have escaped Louisiana, official says Louisiana State Police Col. Robert Hodges said in a news conference Thursday that while he does not believe Groves or Massey have the resources to flee the U.S., they may have escaped Louisiana thanks to the help from other potential accomplices, and given the amount of time that has passed. Hodges also said Massey and Groves may have also had time to change their appearance, but that time has likely taken a toll on them, adding, "they are tired, they are running out of resources." Officials hold a news conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 29, 2025, to provide updates on the investigation into the escape of 10 inmates from a New Orleans jail on May 16, 2025. CBS News Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill had told CBS News in an interview Wednesday that the two may be in other cities. "They can keep running, but they can't hide forever," Murrill said. Authorities said even some family members of the 10 escapees have called in with tips to help track down the escapees. "Some of you might be reporting a friend, a loved one, a relative," said Jonathan Tapp, special agent in charge of the FBI New Orleans Field Office, during the news conference. "It might not be easy." Hodges dismissed concerns flagged by some members of the public that family members of the escapees could try and take advantage of the reward system to split the money with the inmates themselves. He commended those family members who he said have called in helpful tips. Authorities have received more than 700 tips According to Darlene Cusanza, head of the nonprofit Crimestoppers Greater New Orleans office, three tipsters so far are set to receive awards for their help in arresting three of the fugitives and some alleged accomplices. One person has already been paid at least $10,000, and two more people are set to be paid soon, Cusanza said at the news conference. More than 700 tips from the public have poured in since the May 16 escape, Cusanza said, and the Crimestoppers office has had to open up four more phone lines to accommodate all of the calls they are receiving. So far, at least 14 people have been arrested on allegations they helped the inmates either before or after the escape, including one employee of the jail. From top left, DKenan Dennis, Gary Price, Robert Moody, Kendell Myles and Corey Boyd are seen in a combination of photos provided by the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office. From bottom left, Lenton VanBuren, Jermaine Donald, Antoine Massey, Derrick Groves and Leo Tate are seen. Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office via AP Investigation ongoing into how escape was carried out Authorities said that in the early morning hours of May 16, the 10 inmates broke out of the New Orleans jail by ripping a toilet from the wall of a jail cell to which they were not assigned, cutting steel bars, and digging out a hole in the wall behind the toilet. The men allegedly crawled out of the hole to a loading dock, scaled an exterior concrete wall of the jail complex and darted across a freeway to freedom. Outside the Orleans Justice Center jail on May 29, 2025. Ten inmates escaped from the jail on May 16. CBS News The men even took the time to write taunting messages on the wall of the cell before they made a run for it, including, "we innocent," and another misspelled, "to easy LOL." Jail staff didn't notice the inmates were gone for more than seven hours, and it took a few more hours after that for the public to be notified. Even New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said that, on the morning of the escape, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson didn't notify her about what had occurred until after she saw media reports online during a meeting with other managers in her department. "We're all sitting here, and (a staff member) said, 'Have you heard anything about an escape?'," Kirkpatrick recalled in an interview with CBS News. "We were like, 'No we don't know anything about escape.' And then one of the other chiefs picked up his phone and said, 'It's already in the media.'" The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office has faced sharp criticism for its handling of the investigation into how the escape occurred. Hutson has alleged that for years she had been asking the city for funding to make critical upgrades to the correctional facility, but that she had been turned down repeatedly. A 33-year-old maintenance worker at the jail has been arrested and charged with helping the inmates escape, and Murrill has said more employee arrests could be coming. Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams says his office is combing through jail call logs and cross-referencing fingerprints and DNA samples to ascertain who else working at the jail may have been involved. The Louisiana Attorney General's Office is now leading the investigation into failures at the facility that allowed the escape to happen in the first place. The Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office has also been a part of that investigation. "There's so much that's been troubling," Williams said in an interview with CBS News Monday. "Everything's on the table. I think an unprecedented crisis like this, has unprecedented results." Meanwhile, officials with the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Louisiana State Police and the New Orleans Police Department said Thursday they remain laser-focused on getting Massey and Groves back in cuffs. As Kirkpatrick put it in her interview with CBS News, "I'm not out to finger point. I'm out with a mission."
Fox News
4 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Search continues for four-time killer, serial escapee after New Orleans jailbreak
The search for two remaining escapees from the May 16 jailbreak from the Orleans Justice Center continues on Thursday, as the men approach two weeks on the run. Derrick Groves, who was housed in the jail while awaiting sentencing after a jury found him guilty in October of a double homicide during Mardi Gras in 2018, is one of the remaining fugitives. He pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter in unrelated cases thereafter, and was scheduled to be sentenced in July. Antoine Massey, a known escape artist, also remains on the run. He was in jail and awaiting trial on charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation, theft of a motor vehicle and a parole violation. Before busting out of the jail, he had escaped custody three times. He was no longer eligible to be released from jail with an ankle monitor due to his habit of cutting them off, only for police to have to track him down. The law enforcement agencies involved in the hunt, including the Louisiana State Police, the FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshals and the New Orleans Police Department, are scheduled to hold a joint press conference on Thursday to address the status of the escapees. Cameron Lindsay, a former federal prison warden, was befuddled that Massey was locked in a first-floor cell of the facility, saying that his past warranted far more attention from corrections staff. "He would be housed in the most secure location within the jail," Lindsay told Fox News Digital. "All staff would be apprised of this individual, and given his incredibly high risk for escape, I would require documented frequent checks at least once every 30 minutes on an irregular schedule." "I would also insist on documented correctional supervisor rounds, ensuring line staff are strictly following guidelines for inmates of this caliber who present the greatest threat to the community," he said. The other eight prisoners who escaped from their cell and hopped the barbed wire fence to freedom have all been recaptured. So far, 14 people have also been arrested for allegedly aiding the fugitives either before or after the escape.
CBS News
5 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Top prosecutor says 2 remaining New Orleans jail escapees may be in other cities: "They can't hide forever"
Two inmates — Antoine Massey and Derrick Groves — who were among 10 people who escaped from a New Orleans jail nearly two weeks ago may be in other cities, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told CBS News in an interview on Wednesday. Eight of the 10 Orleans Parish Prison inmates have been recaptured after their May 16 jailbreak went unnoticed for hours. Some of them were found within the city's famous French Quarter and others elsewhere within the state of Louisiana, but two of them were found in Texas following extensive surveillance efforts by the U.S. Marshals, authorities said Tuesday. Attorney General Murrill said the escapees' primary networks are based in New Orleans, and the high-profile case makes it tougher for them to walk around without being noticed. "They can keep running, but they can't hide forever," Murrill said, adding that she's confident the two who are still on the run will be taken into custody. Investigations into what Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry called the worst jailbreak in recent state history are ongoing, with at least 13 people arrested in connection with the breakout. The state's top prosecutor said there are several factors that led to the escape, including the court system, jail staffing and infrastructure issues. A high-priority problem, Murrill added, is the issue of slow-moving criminal cases in the district's court system, which she says has led to overcrowding at the facility. Although one-third of the jail's security cameras weren't working at the time, according to the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, one surveillance video captured several inmates forcing open a cell door at about 12:22 a.m. CDT and breaching a wall behind the cell's toilet. At around 1 a.m., video showed, the inmates fled the building through a nearby loading dock, according to the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office. The escape went unnoticed by the sheriff's office until approximately 8:30 a.m. that day. At the time of the escape, no sheriff's deputy was assigned to the area where the inmates initiated the jailbreak. The sheriff's office also said last week that locks on the cells were defective and the escapees were housed in that particular unit due to ongoing renovations at their previous unit, including new locks being installed. Murrill, who visited the jail on Tuesday, said that one unit has had all hinges and locks replaced, while another 160 cells need to have the same work done. "I think that there is hardening that needs to happen at that facility that's just physical changes to things like light bulbs and locks that needs to happen," Murrill said Wednesday. "But at the end of all this, you really have to be able to efficiently move cases, or you're still going to have a continuing problem with a violent population that's there for a very long time, and will continue to beat up and exploit any kind of weakness they can find in that facility." In a post on X, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office announced "significant flooding" problems at the jail following the escape, writing, "despite emergency repairs over the weekend, the plumbing challenges still remain, and water is continuing to accumulate in parts of the facility." The sheriff's office added, "OPSO is working to bring in an external water supply to temporarily accommodate the plumbing issue." On Wednesday afternoon, inmates at the facility yelled out to CBS News cameras outside the facility, "we need water." The attorney general said she has spoken with the sheriff about those issues, as well. The dysfunction at the correctional facility dates back generations. In 1970, a federal judge declaring its overcrowding to be unconstitutional in 1970. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina stranded inmates in chest-high water and left the jail without power. In 2013, a video showed inmates using drugs, drinking beer and brandishing a gun. Issues continued even after the 2015 opening of the state-of-the-art Orleans Justice Center, which houses nearly 1,400 inmates. There were major issues with the building from the outset, including a lack of supervision and adequate housing for mentally ill inmates, The Associated Press reported. Following the escape nearly two weeks ago, Gov. Landry ordered the removal of all remaining state Department of Corrections prison inmates from the facility. The Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams also vocalized concerns about the sheriff's office's ability to securely conduct business, telling CBS News in an interview Monday night he plans to request for a private security detail to temporarily secure the New Orleans courthouse. Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson, who oversees the jail, said she "takes full accountability" for the escape. She also announced she was temporarily suspending her reelection campaign, saying, in part: "Now is the time to focus on security, accountability, and public safety." When asked what policy changes need to happen to ensure another jailbreak doesn't happen, Murrill said: "I think that jail officials know the population at their jail, and they know whether that it's suitable for the population that they have." She added that everyone in the community needs to be paying attention and "participates in insisting that the leadership, the facility, and the court system are all doing their part to protect us and to move these cases through." Kati Weis Kati Weis is a Murrow Award-winning reporter for CBS News based in New Orleans, covering the Southeast. She previously worked as an investigative reporter at CBS News Colorado in their Denver newsroom. contributed to this report.
CNN
6 days ago
- General
- CNN
Video: New Orleans escapees lead police on high-speed chase
Authorities have captured eight escapees after 10 prisoners escaped through a wall behind a toilet in a New Orleans jail cell. Two inmates were arrested in Texas after being involved in a high-speed chase with authorities.
Washington Post
6 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
New Orleans jail escapees caught following car chase in Texas; 2 inmates still on the run
BATON ROUGE, La. — Only two of the 10 New Orleans jail escapees remain on the run Tuesday after police captured two men Monday following a high-speed pursuit in Texas and another man they found sitting on a bench in Louisiana thanks to an anonymous tip. Police dashboard and body camera footage, obtained by The Associated Press, appears to show two escapees — Leo Tate, 31, and Jermaine Donald, 42 — fleeing from police, reaching speeds up to 80 mph (129 kph), in a white SUV in Walker County, Texas.
