West Virginia jail escapee found in Texas trying to cross Rio Grande into Mexico
The escaped inmate was caught trying to cross the Rio Grande.
— -- A West Virginia inmate whose escape from jail went unnoticed for nearly two days almost made it across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Todd Wayne Boyes was nabbed early Sunday in Laredo, Texas, as he tried to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico.
The capture of Boyes, 43, from Caldwell, Ohio, came after a 36-hour manhunt.
He somehow bolted from South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, West Virginia, early on Wednesday, Oct. 25, the day he was supposed to be sentenced for fleeing from police, causing bodily injury and possessing a stolen car. He faced three to 20 years in prison.
Authorities are investigating how the bespectacled Boyes apparently managed to ditch his inmate jumpsuit for khakis, white sneakers and a zip-up jacket and walk out of the jail around 5:50 a.m. that day, according to the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.
State police say they were not notified of his escape until 43 hours later, around 12:30 a.m. Friday.
Despite three formal end-of-shift headcounts, none revealed Boyes' disappearance, Lawrence Messina, a spokesman for the public safety department, said in a statement.
The jail discovered he was missing in a headcount at 7 p.m. Thursday, according to ABC News affiliate WCHS in Charleston.
Afterward, a review of the facility's security video yielded a recording of Boyes leaving the facility the previous morning.
A Charleston lawyer, Kevin Davis, told WCHS he alerted the jail to the escape after he met with a client at the facility.
Davis told the station that his client phoned him Wednesday morning to say he had "life or death" information. During a 4 p.m. jailhouse visit that day, the client told Davis about the escaped inmate.
"Officials at both the Regional Jail Authority and the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety consider the incident to be a grave and unacceptable breach of their core duty to protect their fellow West Virginians," a news release from the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety said. "We intend to address the episode and the results of the ongoing investigation with the utmost seriousness."