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'Dangerous beyond description': two inmates on the run in Georgia 'Dangerous beyond description': escaped Georgia inmates steal vehicles
(about 5 hours later)
Two prison inmates, described as “dangerous beyond description” and wanted in connection with the deaths of two guards on a prison bus, remained on the run in Georgia early on Wednesday, as reward money offered for information leading to their arrests continued to grow. Two Georgia cellmates who killed their guards and escaped from a prison bus have stolen a second vehicle as they try to stay ahead of a vast manhunt, a sheriff said on Wednesday.
Authorities said Donnie Russell Rowe, serving life without parole, and Ricky Dubose, who has prominent tattoos on his face and neck, were spotted twice on Tuesday after they overpowered, disarmed and killed Sgt Christopher Monica and Sgt Curtis Billue as the guards drove 33 inmates between prisons. Donnie Russell Rowe, serving life without parole, and Ricky Dubose, who has prominent tattoos on his face and neck, took a white pickup truck from an industrial site sometime between 6pm on Tuesday and 6am on Wednesday, potentially enabling them to get hours away before the theft was discovered, Putnam County sheriff Howard Sills said.
Their escape after carjacking a driver who happened to pull up behind the bus on a rural highway set off a huge manhunt involving local, state and federal officers, the Putnam County sheriff, Howard Sill, said. Sills was emotional during a news conference as he described the scene. Sills described the fugitives as violent repeat offenders and extremely dangerous, having taken the guards’ 9mm pistols. He urged anyone who saw them to call 911 immediately.
“I saw two brutally murdered corrections officers, that’s what I saw,” he said. “I have their blood on my shoes.” “They just murdered two corrections officers in a brutal fashion,” Sills said. “They’re not concerned with anything regarding human life.”
Authorities said the two inmates got into a “grass green” four-door 2004 Honda Civic with the Georgia license plate number RBJ-6601 and drove west on state highway 16 toward Eatonton, south-east of Atlanta. Immediately after the killings early on Tuesday, the pair carjacked a driver who happened to pull up behind the bus on a rural highway, and drove away in a “grass green” four-door 2004 Honda Civic with the Georgia license plate number RBJ-6601, authorities said.
“We are still desperately looking for these two individuals,” the sheriff said. “They are armed with 9mm pistols that were taken from these correctional officers. They are dangerous beyond description. If anyone sees them or comes into contact, they need to call 911 immediately. They left 31 other inmates locked in the bus with the two dead guards, and took the driver’s phone. By the time help arrived, they had vanished.
He urged the two to turn themselves in. “They need to surrender before we find ’em,” Sills said. Hours later, authorities converged on the small city of Madison, about 25 miles to the north, where they determined the fugitives had ransacked a house at about 10.30am on Tuesday. Sills said they took some food and probably some clothes, since they left their prison uniforms behind.
The two got a head start by taking and tossing the Honda driver’s cellphone and leaving the other 31 prisoners locked inside the bus, Sills said. Authorities put up roadblocks, only to discover on Wednesday morning that the pickup had been stolen, from a site about nine miles away from the burglary. Authorities were searching for a 2008 white Ford F250 pickup truck with the Georgia tag BCX-5372. Since they had not found the Honda Civic, it was not clear whether the fugitives were still together.
“My biggest worry is they’re going to kill somebody else,” he added. “It’s very frustrating,” Sills said. “We need the public’s help in locating these vehicles and locating these individuals.”
Later on Tuesday, the manhunt shifted about 25 miles north, to the city of Madison, where Sills said the two men burglarized a house and then two men fitting their descriptions were reportedly seen in a Family Dollar store less than a mile away. Authorities had no further signs of the inmates and had no reason to believe they had split up, Sills said. Sills agreed with reporters that Dubose would have trouble hiding his prominent tattoos, which include crowns above his eyebrows, a star below his right ear and graffiti-style letters all across his neck. Sills said Dubose also had “ghost” tattooed on his right forefinger and “face” on his right pinky finger – signs of membership in the Ghost Face Gangsters.
The reward for information leading to the arrests of Rowe, 43, and Dubose, 24, continued to grow. A Georgia bureau of investigation spokeswoman, Nelly Miles, said in an email that multiple agencies had contributed $70,000. Both escaped inmates were serving long sentences for armed robbery and other crimes. The state corrections department website indicates Rowe has been serving life without parole since 2002, and Dubose began a 20-year sentence in 2015.
Monica and Billue were both transfer sergeants at Baldwin state prison. Monica had been with the Georgia department of corrections since October 2009 and Billue since July 2007. How the two inmates managed to reach and overpower the guards remained under investigation, Sills said. The inmates have been cellmates more than once in Georgia’s prisons, had known each other for “quite a while” and may have planned the escape together, Ricky Myrick, the department of corrections assistant commissioner, said.
“They were inside the caged area of the bus,” he said. “How they got through the locks and things up to that area I do not know.” Baldwin state prison officers Sgt Christopher Monica and Sgt Curtis Billue were driving 33 inmates between prisons when Rowe and Dubose overpowered them and used the guards’ guns to kill them at about 6.45am on Tuesday, authorities have said.
Protocol is to have two armed corrections officers on the bus, but the officers do not wear bullet-proof vests during transfers, the corrections commissioner, Greg Dozier, said. The other inmates have been questioned and a camera on the bus recorded the guards being shot, but corrections officials have not explained to the public how the pair managed to get through the inmate compartment’s normally locked door.
“We lost two of our fellow officers, two of our kin. We see our officers as our family,” Dozier said. “They were inside the caged area of the bus,” Sills said. “How they got through the locks and things up to that area I do not know.”
Monica was 42 and leaves a wife, Dozier said. Billue was 58 and is survived by his father, five sisters, two brothers and two sons, said Jim Green, an attorney speaking for the Billue family. The sheriff said he had watched the bus video on a cellphone, and could not immediately tell which inmate fired the fatal shots.
“Officer Billue’s family asks for prayers for all of those who are now placing their own lives at risk to bring these men to justice and asks anyone who has information that may assist in apprehending these perpetrators to please contact law enforcement,” Green said in an email. Monica, 42, and Billue, 58, were both transfer sergeants at Baldwin. Monica had been with the Georgia department of corrections since October 2009 and Billue since July 2007.
The guards were moving the inmates to a diagnostic prison in Jackson, where their next placement was to be determined, Dozier said, adding that inmates do not know their transfer dates ahead of time. “Officer Billue’s family asks for prayers for all of those who are now placing their own lives at risk to bring these men to justice and asks anyone who has information that may assist in apprehending these perpetrators to please contact law enforcement,” Jim Green, an attorney speaking for the Billue family, said in an email on Tuesday.
Georgia’s governor, Nathan Deal, pledged every state resource necessary to catch the pair. The reward for information leading to their arrest grew on Wednesday to $90,000, contributed by multiple agencies, Sills said, adding that it was likely the pair had left the Madison area. Many law enforcement officers from local, state and federal agencies were hunting for them.
“The selflessness and courage of these two brave souls will not be forgotten, nor will their sacrifice and service,” Deal said in an emailed statement. “They’ve certainly had time to get out of the state,” Sills said.
The US deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, said federal resources were being committed to help catch the fugitives. The FBI and US Marshals had joined the investigation, Sills said.
Both escaped inmates were serving long sentences for armed robbery and other crimes. The Department of Corrections said Rowe has been serving life without parole since 2002, and Dubose began a 20-year sentence in 2015.