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North Texas Jail Escapee Kills Himself In N.C.

Donald Orange
Mugshot of Donald McFaden Orange II. (credit: Parker Co. Sheriff's Office)

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Officials with the Parker County Sheriff's Office say they have been notified that an inmate escapee from their jail has shot and killed himself.

Donald McFaden Orange II walked away from a work detail, at the Precinct 1 maintenance yard near Veal Station Road, Friday afternoon. Officials say he stole a set of keys off a key board and got away in a county pickup truck.

After breaking into five buildings, tying an elderly man up in his home and another vehicle theft Orange is dead.

A sheriff out of North Carolina confirmed that deputies in their Haywood County had been in pursuit of a stolen pickup truck out of Jack County, Texas.

During a police pursuit the driver of the truck, identified as Orange, had reportedly drove over stop sticks. The spikes brought the vehicle to a stop and when deputies approached, the 29-year-old escapee shot himself in the head with a shotgun.

After escaping on Friday a woman in Jack County had spotted Orange climbing through the window of her home. She called a relative who spotted the man again, coming out of another home wearing new clothes. Realizing he had been seen, Orange ditched the stolen county truck and took off on foot.

Five hours after those break-ins, a report came in that a barn had been burglarized 10 miles away, and a child motorcycle was gone. Deputies moved to the area and discovered another burglary and a used first aid kit.

Later elderly homeowner Edwin Stephan said he walked into his kitchen to find Orange standing there, holding a shotgun.

"Just kinda seemed unreal at first you know," Stephan said. "This doesn't happen."

Stephan said Orange used a rope, phone cable and extension cord to tie him to a kitchen chair. He said Orange was in the house up to an hour, resting, eating and telling him about his escape.

"I mean he made it so easy to trust him and not feel threatened," Stephan said. "Never at any point did I think he was going to pull that trigger."

After Orange drove away in Stephan's 1992 blue and white Ford pickup, the tied up victim hopped out to the road and flagged down a neighbor.

Orange was originally arrested late last year on charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief. His bond was less than $65.000.

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