‘Extremely dangerous’ detainee who escaped cell spotted Sunday near Kansas City metro
Update: The FBI in a statement Sunday evening said Jonathan O’Dell was arrested in Ray County. Read the latest here.
An escaped Missouri inmate who is charged with threatening violence against the federal government and others at the Texas-Mexico border was spotted Sunday near the outskirts of the Kansas City metro.
In an update posted just before 4 p.m. Sunday to Facebook, the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department wrote that Jonathan S. O’Dell was seen “a short time ago” in Ray County, which is less than an hour’s drive northeast of downtown Kansas City.
“The witness, who knows him personally, reported him in possession of a stolen vehicle out of Phelps County,” the sheriff’s department wrote.
The FBI announced Saturday afternoon that they are looking for O’Dell, who they described a “extremely dangerous.”
The 33-year-old escaped his jail cell in Phelps County, Missouri, on Friday night, according to a statement from the agency.
O’Dell was being held in jail on numerous weapons charges, as well as conspiracy to murder border patrol officers and FBI agents.
In 2022, O’Dell and 37-year-old Bryan C. Perry of Clarksville, Tennessee, planned to drive to the Texas-Mexico border and “start a war,” according to a federal indictment.
The two allegedly planned to shoot people crossing the border, as well as border patrol agents who tried to stop them.
Over several months Perry and O’Dell recruited other individuals to join their militia group. They advertised a recruitment event in Warsaw, according to the indictment. The two used a Warsaw home as a “staging site,” collecting weapons and military gear.
Perry allegedly posted a video on TikTok saying that their group was “out to shoot to kill.”
Charges filed last year
In October 2022, O’Dell and Perry were charged in a six-count indictment by a federal grand jury in Jefferson City, just weeks after authorities reported a person had shot at Kansas City FBI agents in the 30000 block of U.S. Highway 65.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said at the time that agents approached a property with flashing lights and a loud speaker, announcing to Perry and O’Dell that the FBI had a search warrant. While an agent repeated the announcement, gunfire broke out from the front window of the residence and hit the lead FBI vehicle.
Both men eventually came out of the home. They were placed in federal custody without bond after it was determined during separate detention hearings that they pose a threat to the public.
Perry was charged with one count of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, one count of transmitting a threat across state lines to injure another person, one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and one count of forcibly assaulting an FBI agent with a deadly weapon.
O’Dell was charged with one count of transmitting a threat across state lines to injure another person and one count of unlawfully possessing a firearm.
Friday’s jail escape
Around 11 p.m. Friday, O’Dell and another detainee, Steven Timothy Scott, compromised the “structural integrity” of the cell before making an escape, authorities said.
Scott turned himself in a short time later, according to the FBI. A spokeswoman with the FBI did not clarify how the men escaped.
Authorities said they believe O’Dell has associates near Warsaw, Columbia and Springfield, none of which are located in Ray County.
O’Dell is 6-feet-1-inch tall, has brown hair and blue eyes and weighs 200 pounds.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of O’Dell is asked to call 911 or the FBI immediately. FBI Kansas City can be contacted at 816-512-8200. Tips may also be submitted at https://tips.fbi.gov.
The FBI also reminded the public in its release that anyone who aids a fugitive will face serious charges.
The Star’s Jenna Thompson contributed.
This story was originally published October 1, 2023 at 4:43 PM.
