Manhunt for 2 murder suspects who escaped jail
ORANGEBURG, S.C. -- Authorities were searching early Monday morning for two inmates, both charged with murder, who escaped from a South Carolina jail. A third man who escaped with them was recaptured overnight.
The three escaped Saturday night and all are considered dangerous, the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office said in Facebook post.
Sheriff Leroy Ravenell identified the three as 27-year-old Tyshon Demontrea Johnson; 20-year-old Curtis Ray Green; and 27-year-old Christopher Shannon Boltin.
Ravenell said the inmates escaped after an officer at the jail was assaulted, and it is believed that assault was a part of a plan to escape, reports CBS affiliate WLTX. The officer's wounds are reportedly non-life-threatening.
Five to six additional inmates also tried to unsuccessfully to escape, the station reports.
Ravenell confirmed in a message posted to the sheriff's Facebook page early Monday morning that Boltin had been recaptured "without incident" in Lexington County. WLTX reports that Boltin's father Hoyt Bolton will be charged as an accessory after the fact in the escape.
Johnson and Green -- who remained at large early Monday -- are charged with murder. Boltin faces a carjacking and grand larceny charge, and "will be returned to Orangeburg and put back in jail to await his court hearing," according to Ravenell, who said authorities would now "focus on the remaining two at large."
An inmate serving a sentence for violation of probation escaped last year from the Orangeburg County Detention Center, which was built in 1967. County officials have approved construction of a new $26 million jail, but it's expected to be at least two years before it's completed.
In June 2017, the Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reported that county Administrator Harold Young said the current detention center does not have much-needed technology. "It's way past its prime as far as a detention center facility," Young said.
County Planning Director Richard Hall said in January that the new facility would "meet all state requirements for jails."
"The current jail was built in 1967," Hall said. "It doesn't meet many standards."
