"Michigan inmate calls prison escape simple; Captured again by police, held in Indiana jail" Associated Press, February 09, 2014
IONIA, Mich. — The convicted killer who escaped from a Michigan prison said in an interview that it was “relatively simple” to crawl under a fence and avoid detection from passing cars.
Michael Elliot, who was discovered missing last Sunday during an inmate count at the Ionia Correctional Facility, was arrested the following day in northwest Indiana, driving a stolen vehicle.
He used his one phone call from an Indiana jail where he’s being held on $1 million bond to discuss the escape with the Detroit Free Press, which detailed the interview in a story published Saturday.
I'll bet he will be getting sympathetic media coverage!
He told the newspaper he saw an opportunity. “It was relatively simple,” he said.
Elliot, 40, said he wore a couple of layers of white thermals underneath a blue uniform and tore it a little bit so he could rip it off easily when he dove into the snow. He also had white shoes, white gloves, and a white thermal ski mask.
“As soon as [guards] turned their back a little bit, I dove in the snow and crawled to the path I had in mind,” said Elliot, who added it took 30 minutes to escape and another hour to run to the city of Ionia. He jumped in the snow every time he saw a car.
Once in Ionia, he spotted a woman, walked up to her car, and said, “ ‘Hey, move over,’ ” Elliot said. “She said, ‘No I’m not doing anything.’ ”
He told her he had been convicted of murder and had just escaped from prison before getting in the back of the vehicle. “I assured her all the way there that I wasn’t going to do her any harm,” he said.
The woman drove to a gas station in Middlebury, Ind., and Elliot changed into a dry pair of her cargo pants and some undergarments she had in the vehicle. He took the keys and went inside. The woman said she needed to use the restroom. Elliot said he took off in the vehicle. The woman called 911 on her cellphone and waited in a locked bathroom for police to arrive.
?????????????
Elliot ditched the vehicle before stealing another car. He was arrested in Kankakee Township trying to outrun deputies.
Elliot remains in the La Porte County jail as officials in Michigan work to bring him back to the state, a process that could take weeks. Two Ionia Correctional Facility employees have been suspended. The state Correction Department did not provide details on the suspensions, but spokesman Russ Marlan confirmed Friday they were related to the investigation of Elliot’s escape from the prison. The department expects to wrap up its investigation next week, and Attorney General Bill Schuette will conduct a separate review of what happened.
Elliot was serving life in prison without parole for fatally shooting four people and burning down their Gladwin County house in 1993. He and accomplices sought to steal money from a drug dealer, police said.
Elliot maintained his innocence in the four killings in the interview with the newspaper and said he hopes somebody will take another look at the case.
--more--"
Related:
"Fugitive found 37 years after escape" by Julie Watson and Ed White | Associated Press, February 06, 2014
SAN DIEGO — A Michigan officer’s decision to look through old files on fugitives led investigators to a woman who escaped from a Michigan prison 37 years ago and was living in San Diego, authorities said Wednesday.
Been a good week for the Detroit judicial system, 'eh?
Judy Lynn Hayman, 60, will be returned to Michigan to complete her sentence for attempted larceny.
It will be up to the state Parole Board to determine how long Hayman will be imprisoned. She had served eight months of an 18- to 24-month sentence for attempting to steal clothes from a Detroit-area store. She could face a separate criminal charge for the escape.
San Diego police went to an apartment Monday, and a woman matching Hayman’s description answered the door. She identified herself as Jamie Lewis. Officers remained suspicious because of inconsistencies in her story and her resemblance to a Michigan mug shot.
The officers took her to a police station, where she acknowledged being Hayman.
Her 32-year-old son was visiting, and officers said he seemed stunned. ‘‘This seemed very much a surprise to him,’’ Lieutenant Kevin Mayer said.
--more--"
Another stunner:
"Mich. woman gets 5-year sentence for false rape report" by Ed White | Associated Press, January 18, 2014
PORT HURON, Mich. — A judge sentenced a ‘‘tormented and disturbed’’ Michigan woman to at least five years in prison Friday for falsely accusing two men of rape, a punishment that came after she pleaded no contest to a cancer scam in a separate case that also challenged her credibility....
In December, Sara Ylen, 38, was convicted of making up a story about two men attacking her at her Lexington home, 80 miles northeast of Detroit.
Only government and newspapers can do that.
The jury also convicted her of tampering with evidence by using makeup to create what looked like bruises.
Only government can do that.
Ylen’s integrity has been shattered after years of being considered a sympathetic figure in eastern Michigan.
She accepted thousands of dollars from supporters and was treated by a hospice service for two years after claiming to have end-stage cervical cancer that had spread throughout her body....
No evidence confirming cancer.
--more--"
"Girl, 4, accidentally shoots, kills cousin at Detroit home" Associated Press, January 18, 2014
DETROIT — A 4-year-old girl accidentally shot her 4-year-old cousin to death with a rifle that she found under a bed at their grandfather’s Detroit home, police said Friday....
Related:
Strange a spooky timing there.
Police Sergeant Michael Woody said, ‘‘It’s a tragic incident. It’s really not anything more than that. There was no malicious intent.’’
--more--"
That gets us into downtown Detroit:
"Duggan takes bankrupt Detroit’s oath of office" by Corey Williams | Associated Press, January 02, 2014
DETROIT — The new mayor was sworn into office on Wednesday, and despite the New Year’s Day holiday — and his limited powers in an insolvent city whose finances are controlled by a state-appointed emergency manager — he is starting work immediately.
Mike Duggan was holding initial staff meetings at City Hall on Wednesday after the morning ceremony, continuing the work he has done on Detroit’s behalf since voters elected him in November.
With outgoing Mayor Dave Bing at his side, Duggan praised his predecessor, calling him one of his heroes.
‘‘I’m going to continue to build on what he started, and I just want to say thank you,’’ Duggan said during a brief ceremony.
The former Detroit Medical Center chief has attended a meeting of new mayors hosted by the White House, put together his own administration, and lobbied for a greater role in the city’s immediate turnaround.
‘‘He’s been engaged on issues and has been preparing to hit the ground running,’’ former Detroit councilwoman Sheila Cockrel said of Duggan.
So far, mayoral celebrations have been muted, something Cockrel said is noteworthy.
‘‘We’re broke. There is no money. Streetlights are still not on. Cops do not come on time,’’ said Cockrel, who is founder of a government relations advocacy firm. ‘‘When you’re in the middle of a bankruptcy, how much celebrating should you be doing?”
--more--"
"Governor backs plan to give bankrupt Detroit $350m" by DAVID EGGERT | Associated Press, January 23, 2014
LANSING, Mich. — Governor Rick Snyder announced a plan Wednesday to commit $350 million in state funds to help shore up Detroit’s pension funds and prevent valuable city-owned art from being sold during the debt-ridden city’s bankruptcy.
That's more than the benevolent federal dictator with pen and phone at table.
The Republican joined legislative leaders in outlining a proposal that would provide the money over 20 years. They acknowledged it may be a hard sell in the GOP-controlled Legislature, but said it was better than a protracted legal fight in a city facing an estimated $18 billion in debt.
Snyder was quick to say the money wouldn’t be a bailout, but rather a way to help Detroit settle its bankruptcy quickly and allow it to grow.
‘‘If Michigan’s to be a great state again, we need Detroit on a positive path to success,’’ Snyder said.
The money would match the roughly $330 million that local and national charitable foundations have pledged so far to help the insolvent city, including protecting valuable works at the Detroit Institute of Arts that could be sold as part of the bankruptcy.
So the feds are third on the aid list, huh? All that money needs to go to Wall Street, the war machine, Israel, well-connected corporations, and for lavish political lifestyles. Gotcha!
--more--"
And the $olution to the jobs crisis?
"Mich. seeks visas to draw immigrants to Detroit" by By JEFF KAROUB and DAVID EGGERT | Associated Press, January 24, 2014
DETROIT — Governor Rick Snyder asked the federal government Thursday to set aside thousands of work visas for bankrupt Detroit, a bid to revive the decaying city by attracting talented immigrants who are willing to move there and stay for five years.
The Republican governor has routinely touted immigration as a potential force for growing Detroit’s economy, saying immigrant entrepreneurs start many small businesses and file patents at twice the rate of US-born citizens.
‘‘Let’s send a message to the entire world: Detroit, Michigan, is open to the world,’’ Snyder said at a news conference.
The proposal involves EB-2 visas, which are offered to legal immigrants who have advanced degrees or show exceptional ability in certain fields.
But the governor’s ambitious plan faces significant hurdles: The visas are not currently allocated by region or state. And the number he is seeking — 50,000 over five years — would be a quarter of the total EB-2 visas offered.
The proposal seemed to take officials by surprise at the State Department, which works with the Homeland Security Department to decide on visa requests.
--more--"
The Globe agrees, of course.
Time for me to make my escape.
