Two prisoners who fled from a Virginia juvenile facility through a hole in a fence have been arrested in Michigan nearly two weeks after they escaped, authorities say.
Jabar A. Taylor, 20, and Rashad E. Williams, 18, escaped from Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in the Richmond area July 13, the state Department of Juvenile Justice said.
U.S. Marshals with the Grand Rapids Fugitive Task Force apprehended both escapees Saturday night without incident at a hotel in Battle Creek, Michigan, the Virginia State Police said in a statement.
They used a cord to choke a security staff member, the juvenile justice department said. The staff member briefly lost consciousness. They grabbed a set of keys, used them to get out of a unit and “escaped through a hole that had been cut in the facility’s perimeter security fence.” A vehicle was waiting for them on the other side and they vanished.
U.S. Marshals pursued numerous leads in several states before finding the convicted felons 700 miles away from the scene of the escape, police said.
Numerous other agencies and the FBI assisted in the investigation.
Taylor was imprisoned after being convicted of second-degree murder and aggravated malicious assault. Williams was convicted of malicious wounding and robbery.
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Taylor is from Spotsylvania County. Williams is from Washington, D.C. Both men were set to be transferred to adult facilities when they turn 21.
They are being held at a jail in Michigan.
