Death Row Inmate Captured

From the Asdsociated Press

HOUSTON -- A death row inmate who slipped out of a Texas jail wearing street clothes was captured Sunday in Shreveport, La., the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Marianne Matus, a Marshals spokeswoman in Houston, confirmed Sunday night that convicted killer Charles Victor Thompson was in custody.

No details about how authorities found him were immediately released, but Matus had said earlier in the day that they had received valuable tips about his possible whereabouts. A $10,000 reward had been offered for information leading to his capture.

Thompson, 35, had been convicted in 1999 for the shooting deaths a year earlier of his ex-girlfriend, Dennise Hayslip and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain. An appeals court threw out his sentence, but on Oct. 28, another jury sentenced him to death.

On Thursday, he was in the Harris County Jail awaiting transfer to a state prison when he was taken to a room for a meeting with an attorney, though not his attorney of record, authorities said.

After the attorney left, Thompson was alone. Somehow, he removed his handcuffs, changed out of his bright orange prison jumpsuit into the clothes he wore during his sentencing, and got out of the prisoner's booth in the visiting room, authorities said.

Using a falsified ID badge, he got past at least four jail employees and walked out of the building.

Sheriff's spokesman Lt. John Martin said Friday that Thompson's escape resulted from "multiple errors" by jail personnel.

The escape frightened his victim's relatives, who were notified by authorities and given police protection. Prosecutors had earlier accused Thompson of trying to hire hit men to kill witnesses against him, as well as members of Hayslip's family.

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This is becoming so typical these days even despite the safeguards and security we put in place.