Two jail escapees captured after massive hunt

Two inmates who escaped from the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton Monday night are back behind bars facing felony I charges and will likely face additional charges, according to Sheriff Heath Jackson.

Cameron Garner, who was being held for burglary III and attempting to elude and Joseph Loper, who was being held on a failure to appear charge, both escaped from the county jail shortly after 8 p.m. Monday.

Sheriff Jackson said he asked Emergency Management Agency Director David Adams to send out a robo call which informed residents of the escapes and advised residents to remain inside and ensure all doors were locked and to report any suspicious behavior to law enforcement.

Sheriff Jackson said Garner and Loper waited for a nurse to open a door heading from the detention center to the sheriff's office side and shoved her out of the way and exited the office side of the building.

Jackson said multiple law enforcement agencies were notified and a perimeter was set up. The sheriff said the two went into Burnt Corn Creek at O'Bannon Park and headed down stream and into Murder Creek. Tracking dogs from the Department of Corrections were dispatched and the two men exited the creek on some hunting land near Williamson Street in East Brewton.

Jackson said the two broke into a camp house shed and stole a side-by-side ATV, drove through a fence and went to the East Brewton sewer lagoon site, where they broke into a building, stole some clothes and food and vandalized the building.

Jackson said he spotted the two on a dirt road and ran into the woods. The tracking dogs were redeployed and said an Alabama Law Enforcement Helicopter crew spotted the two several times in the woods.

"We had drones in the air, but with the thick vegetation in the woods they couldn't be seen," Jackson said.

The next morning one of the suspects was captured hiding in a shed at Georgia Pacific. Jackson said the helicopter crew spotted the other man on the railroad tracks later Tuesday and he was taken into custody.

In addition to ALEA's aviation unit and state bureau of investigations, Jackson said Brewton, East Brewton, Flomaton, Atmore and Evergreen police departments responded and aided in the search, along with the Coneuch County Sheriff's Office and department of corrections.

"I want to thank all those agencies who responded and helped catch these two men," Jackson said.