According to police, one escaped prisoner has died while three others are still at large in the US state of Mississippi. The 22-year-old fugitive Dylan Arrington is suspected of murdering a man and stealing his vehicle.
The police reported on Wednesday that Arrington's body was discovered in a charred building in Carthage. Sunday, during a routine headcount at the Raymond Detention Centre near Jackson, authorities discovered that four suspects were missing.
It is believed that at least one of the suspects escaped to Texas. In addition to Arrington, the three criminals were identified as Jerry Raynes, 51, Corey Harrison, 22 and Casey Grayson, 22. According to local authorities, Raynes has a history of escaping from prisons, including the Raymond Detention Centre in 2021.
The males were detained on a variety of charges, most of which were theft-related. Arrington was serving time for larceny of a firearm and a vehicle. As local, state, and federal police conduct their manhunt, residents of the area have been warned to be on the lookout for the suspects.
On social media, authorities in neighboring Leake County urged residents to be extremely cautious and to secure their doors. They also asked people to avoid keeping keys or weapons in their parked vehicles. Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones stated at a news conference earlier this week that after the four were discovered missing on Sunday, jail officials discovered two breaches in the structure, including one on the roof.
Authorities now believe that the suspects escaped from the roof of the jail on Saturday and left the facility at different times. Arrington has been identified by Jackson Police Chief James Davis as the leading suspect in the murder of a 61-year-old man.
Mr Watts was shot and killed around 7:00 p.m. local time on Monday after he stopped to assist a man, now believed to be Arrington, whose motorbike had collapsed. His red pickup truck was taken from the scene where he was discovered dead.
Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones wrote on social media on Wednesday that police had exchanged gunfire with a barricaded suspect presumed to be Arrington in Carthage. Sheriff Randy Atkinson of Leake County stated that officers spotted smoke coming from inside the home, and within a few minutes, the house was completely engulfed in flames.
An unidentified dead person was discovered in the burned home after an almost two-hour standoff, Police announced late Wednesday that Arrington's body had been identified, adding that the cause of his death is still under investigation.
Jerry Raynes, a second suspect, is believed to have stolen a government vehicle for public works, which was later discovered near Houston, Texas. Raynes was captured on surveillance video at a gas station in Spring Valley, Texas, a suburb of Houston. A federal magistrate seized control of the Raymond Detention Centre in July, citing "severely deficient" conditions and a "stunning array" of assaults and deaths among inmates.
The judge appointed a public safety consultant as receiver in October, with 120 days to devise a plan to ameliorate conditions. In December, a court of appeals stayed the judge's order after local officials requested that the decision be reconsidered.
