Alleged murderer escapes from Missouri jail about two months after previous escape

A Missouri inmate escaped from a jail while shackled Monday evening.

The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office issued a post on its Facebook page at about 6 p.m. Monday, warning the community that Michael Jones, in custody for alleged murder and abandonment of a corpse, had escaped.

“ALERT!!!!!! An inmate has escaped custody,” the post stated. “Suspect was also shackled.”

The Sheriff’s Office posted about an hour later that Jones had been found and was back in custody.

Jones escaped while waiting to be transported by van to Vernon County because of overcrowding, according to a Sheriff’s Office release.

“While the Vernon County Deputy was securing the other inmates, Jones, who was belly chained, took advantage of the Deputy’s divided attention and fled the scene,” the release stated.

The deputy pursued Jones but lost sight of him. He was later found in a brush pile behind a residence.

Jones had been previously charged with escaping or attempting to escape from custody, a felony, for a Sept. 17 incident in which he fled a Sheriff’s Office deputy while handcuffed and ran away from the jail, according to a probable cause statement. He was detained by a deputy who pursued him.

The deputy who filed a probable cause statement recommended charging Jones with “the crime of Escape from Custody.”

The Sheriff’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Jones is being held on a $500,000 bond, according to the Sheriff’s Office website.