A convicted murderer was apprehended in Mississippi Tuesday after three days on the lam, during which time he was hospitalized twice, impersonated an FBI agent, committed an assault and stole a car, officials said.
The escape was the third for Michael Floyd Wilson, 51, who is serving two life sentences for beating two people to death in 2014.
Central Mississippi Correctional Facility officials admitted that prior to his escape Wilson was improperly housed in a minimum security prison instead of a maximum security prison, and that they did not report Wilson’s Saturday escape from the facility near Jackson until Sunday.
Department of Corrections spokesperson Leo Honeycutt told the Associated Press this delay allowed Wilson to interact with police without being arrested and to twice receive hospital care by using a fake name and impersonating an FBI agent.
“We dropped the ball because we didn’t know he had escaped,” Honeycutt said.
According to state officials, around a dozen employees of the Department of Corrections are now suspended for failing to report his escape.
NBC News affiliate WLBT-TV of Jackson reported that Wilson used the same fake name during his last escape.
“He was bleeding from his hand profusely. The razor wire really did its job, but some of our folks didn’t do their job,” Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain told WLBT-TV. “So the things were in place that he should’ve been apprehended and it shouldn’t have been far from the prison, but it didn’t happen. Again, that’s why the disciplinary action is happening.”
Wilson’s last escape, in 2018, lasted two days and Wilson managed to travel 70 miles.
Before that, 2001, Wilson broke out of county jail while detained on a burglary charge.
He was bleeding from his hand profusely. The razor wire really did its job, but some of our folks didn’t do their job.
MISS. D.O.C Commissioner Burl Cain To WBLT
This week, Wilson escaped for three days and traveled at least 130 miles — back to the Gulf Coast’s Harrison County, where he killed two people nearly a decade ago.
Shortly after his escape Saturday, and before he was reported missing Sunday, Wilson convinced a Jackson-area driver that he was an injured FBI agent and was transported to a hospital under an alias.
After he was discharged from the hospital on Saturday, Wilson was found at an auto body shop in Richland, where police were called because he was bleeding and refusing to leave.
Wilson was again hospitalized under a fake name and later discharged — all before he was reported missing.
Wilson was finally caught by deputies of the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday just 30 minutes after he allegedly committed an assault and carjacking in Jackson County.
In an email, Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson denied media reports that Wilson’s stolen car ran out of gas.
The Associated Press contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
