OPELOUSAS, La. — Authorities intensified their search on Saturday for Keith Eli, the last remaining inmate who escaped from a Louisiana jail earlier this week after breaking through a deteriorating wall.
St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz expressed his hope that Eli would surrender peacefully but emphasized the commitment of law enforcement to capture him. ‘We will not rest until he is captured,’ Guidroz stated.
The pursuit follows the escape of Eli, 24, who had been charged with second-degree murder, along with two other inmates from the parish jail located in southwestern Louisiana. Eli has been on the run for three days.
One of the escapees, 24-year-old Johnathan Jevon Joseph, was apprehended on Friday after a tip led detectives to his hiding place. Joseph, facing serious charges including rape, attempted to flee but ultimately surrendered after being cornered in a storage shed.
Meanwhile, the third escapee, 26-year-old Joseph Allen Harrington, took his own life on Thursday when police attempted to persuade him to come outside a residence where he was found.
This jailbreak is not the first troubling incident of the year regarding prison escapes in Louisiana. Just a few months earlier, 10 inmates escaped from a facility in New Orleans, taking months for authorities to recapture them.
Sheriff Guidroz noted the escape route involved inmates discovering a degrading section of the jail’s upper wall, eventually dismantling enough of the concrete blocks to allow them to slip through. They reportedly used bedsheets to help them descend from the jail's roof once outside.
The circumstances surrounding the jailbreak are currently under internal investigation to prevent future occurrences.
