The murder convict who escaped from a Michigan prison was caught Monday in Indiana, officials confirmed.
Michael David Elliot was serving a life sentence at the Ionia Correctional Facility, Michigan. The authorities noticed Sunday around 9:30 p.m. that he was missing. They began a manhunt for him and the Indiana police finally caught him.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Ron Galaviz said Elliot was captured in LaPorte County, reports the Associated Press.
Elliot, 40, was found guilty of murdering four people in 1993 in Gladwin County. After fleeing from the prison he also abducted a woman. She later freed herself from his clutches at a gas station in Indiana where Elliot made a stop to fill gas in his escape vehicle. The woman locked herself in the bathroom at the gas station till the police arrived.
"He's knocking on the bathroom door, saying 'let's go,' " the woman told the 911 dispatcher, reported The Detroit News. "He just wants to get someplace far from Ionia. He's coming back. He doesn't know I have a cellphone."
By the time police arrived, Elliot had already driven off.
According to the officials at the facility, he was well behaved during his 20 years in jail. While escaping he wore the white kitchen uniform in order to dodge security and blend in with the snow, the prison spokesman, Russ Marlan, told the AP.
The Indiana police began searching for Elliot after they received a complaint about a car stolen from a factory in the city of LaPorte, said sheriff Maj. John Boyd. He added that a deputy spotted the stolen Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
The police chased him till they caught him near the Kankakee Township. He was arrested and taken to the LaPorte County Jail where he is being held without bond. The LaPorte County Sheriff's Department said Elliot was charged with motor vehicle theft and resisting law enforcement, reports AP. Marlan said that Michigan would begin the extradition process immediately.
According to the corrections department, Elliot was charged and convicted for first-degree murder and was also accused of arson and armed robbery.
