Law enforcement officers in North Carolina continued their search on Thursday for a convicted murderer who was serving a life sentence and escaped custody on Tuesday morning, according to the state’s Department of Adult Correction.
The prisoner, Ramone Alston, 30, was in a prison transport vehicle at the U.N.C. Hospitals Hillsborough Campus for a medical appointment at around 7 a.m. Tuesday, according to the department. When officers opened the door, Mr. Alston, who had freed himself from his leg restraints, ran out of the vehicle in handcuffs and into the woods, the department said.
Police officers had their weapons with them when Mr. Alston escaped but did not fire at him because “it all happened so quickly,” said Keith Acree, the communications director for the department.
On Wednesday more than 300 law enforcement personnel from 19 agencies conducted a ground search, which covered 1,335 acres, according to Mr. Acree.
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“We feel pretty comfortable from a search standpoint that offender Alston is not in the immediate vicinity,” Kirby Saunders, the emergency services director for Orange County, N.C., said of the search around the Hillsborough campus. “We feel comfortable in saying that the community is not in imminent danger or risk right now.”
The authorities said they believed that Mr. Alston had received help in his escape, but they did not elaborate. A $50,0000 reward is being offered for information leading to Mr. Alston’s capture. During a news conference on Wednesday, Orange County Sheriff Charles S. Blackwood said that many tips had been developed, two of which are “rock solid.”
