Caught in the Big Easy: Two inmates who dug their way out of a Missouri jail
A double-murder suspect from Missouri and a fellow inmate who led authorities on a nationwide manhunt for nearly three weeks have been apprehended in New Orleans, authorities said Monday.
William Carter, 27, is accused of murdering his estranged wife and her boyfriend by running over them with his SUV in June. He and inmate Joseph Latamondeer, 41, broke out of the Pemiscot County Jail in Caruthersville, Mo., on Oct. 15.
Carter was caught on Saturday and Latamondeer on Monday, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
About 11 a.m. Saturday, U.S. marshals requested assistance from state troopers after they suspected that Carter was holed up in a New Orleans building, according to KAIT in Jonesboro, Ark.
Shortly after noon, troopers saw a man fitting Carter’s description walking down a street and took him into custody without incident, state police told the Times-Picayune in New Orleans.
Carter faces first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Heather Michelle Hampton Carter, 24, and Aaron Campbell, 25.
The two were said to be high school sweethearts who had just started dating. Heather was Carter’s estranged wife.
Police in Kennett, Mo., say that on June 17, Carter purposely rammed a vehicle Heather was driving and left the scene, KFVS in Kennett reported.
Carter then circled the block and returned to the scene where he purposely ran over Heather and Campbell, who had gotten out of Heather’s vehicle to call 911, police said.
She was airlifted to a Memphis hospital where she died later. Campbell died at the scene.
Carter and Latamondeer were the first inmates in more than 20 years to break out of Pemiscot County jail, the Times-Picayune reported.
They used a crude tool to dig through the ceiling in a shower stall, crawled through an air duct and dropped into an exterior closet, the Missouri Highway Patrol said at the time.
They were able to break the closet lock to get out and climbed a fence to escape the jail grounds and were last seen running towards the Mississippi River.
They escaped early on a Sunday morning. Both men were due in court the next day.
Latamondeer was arrested about 7 a.m. Monday at a homeless shelter in New Orleans, reported KAIT in Jonesboro, Ark.
Latamondeer was being held in the Pemiscot County jail on several charges, most recently resisting arrest and theft.
He was supposed to be sentenced on Oct. 16 on the domestic assault charge. Latamondeer is accused of brutally beating a woman in 2016, according to KFVS.
“I’ve been sheriff 20 years, never had an escape,” Sheriff Tommy Greenwell told KAIT last month as the search for the men by air, ground, foot, boat and 4-wheeler, continued. “And it was a total shock to me.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2017 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Caught in the Big Easy: Two inmates who dug their way out of a Missouri jail."