Manhunt underway for convicted killer who escaped Michigan prison

IONIA, Mich. – A convicted killer serving a life sentence in Michigan has escaped from prison and allegedly abducted a woman before she escaped in Indiana, authorities said Monday.

At around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, 40-year-old Michael David Elliot was determined to be missing from the Ionia Correctional Facility, said Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan via email.

Marlan said that Elliot may have abducted an Ionia woman using a knife or box cutter and drove roughly 100 miles southwest to Elkhart, Ind., to stop for gas. There, the woman managed to get away and call police.

Police made contact with the woman about 11:50 p.m. Sunday. Elliot had left the gas station and remained at large Monday morning, according to Marlan.

“Citizens should immediately call 911 if they observe anything suspicious or possibly become aware of the whereabouts of … Elliot,” Marlan said in the email.

Elliot is serving life sentences for first-degree murder and also has convictions for arson and armed robbery, according to the MDOC.

Michigan Department of Corrections officers are working with the state police and other law enforcement agencies to track down the fugitive.

All other inmates at the Ionia Correctional Facility have been accounted for, Marlan said.