Yerby Hughes, who escaped Sunday from the Walthall County jail in Tylertown has been captured in Louisiana.
A Walthall County sheriff’s dispatcher said Hughes was caught about 4 p.m. Monday in the Hackley community in Washington Parish, La., just south of the Louisiana state line between Tylertown and Franklinton, La. Further details on his capture were unavailable Monday afternoon.
Hughes, 32,who was being held for forgery, escaped from the jail in Tylertown around 8 a.m. Sunday and managed to elude authorities Sunday. He reportedly stole a 2002 white Mercury Monday morning, and one police scanner report stated that Hughes should be considered armed and dangerous.
Walthall Sheriff Duane Dillon said Hughes managed to flee the jail jail trusty entered Hughes’ cell to get sheets to wash. Hughes ran out of the cell and out the jail’s back door. He later was spotted by a resident entering a wooded area between Walthall County Hospital in Tylertown and Highway 98.
Walthall officials used a tracking team on Sunday when Hughes was on foot, but had no luck.
“We concentrated our efforts to that area where he was last seen and secured it,” Dillon said. “We had a (dog) tracking team in there looking for him, but he managed to get by us.”
Sunday’s escape was not the first time Hughes unlawfully left the Walthall County Jail. He escaped on May 3, 2007, while he was being held on a forgery charge and was caught a half hour later.
