Notable local jail breaks

Nov. 23, 1992: Two inmates -- Michael Davis, 21, of Cape Girardeau and Larry Daniels, 28, of New Madrid, Mo. -- escaped the Stoddard County Jail by unscrewing a door handle to an evidence room and sliding a wire through the hole. They used the wire to knock pistols off a table and drag the weapons to them. They threatened a jailer with the pistols and escaped in his truck. They were captured six hours later.

Jan. 19, 1993: While a Cape Girardeau police officer's back was turned, a prisoner he was guarding -- David E. McJunkins, 21 of De Soto, Mo. -- ducked out a back door of city hall, avoiding jail for a few hours. McJunkins, who was sentenced that day to 30 days in city jail on municipal traffic charges, was found hiding in the basement of an apartment house in the 600 block of South Sprigg Street.

July 29, 1994: Two male prisoners -- Richard Dean Carter, 31, and Kirk Joseph Prevallet, 26 -- at about 11 p.m. escaped through a skylight from the Perry County Jail in Perryville, Mo. Prevallet committed suicide when police surrounded the barn in which he was hiding near Perryville. Carter was captured Aug. 30 near Ukiah, Calif., about 140 miles north of San Francisco. In October 1994, Carter again escaped custody while being transferred from California to Indiana. He was captured Nov. 11 in New Orleans.

Nov. 14, 1994: A Bollinger County jail trusty -- William Knapp -- walked away from the jail.

Nov. 28, 1995: Four inmates at the Mississippi County Jail at Charleston, Mo., including the killer of a Cape Girardeau man, escaped. Steven Dewayne Dickson, 26, of Cape Girardeau cut through a window's protective wire mesh and made his escape. The other three inmates -- Tave Elmer Skinner, Christopher Corey Hamilton and Keith Dernel Box -- pried a window frame on the other side of the jail and freed themselves about the same time. The next day, Dickson was caught hiding in an abandoned vehicle in Pinhook, Mo. The other three were captured Nov. 30 at a residence in Cairo, Ill.

June 16, 1996: Russell E. Bucklew, awaiting trial on 15 criminal charges that included first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape and armed criminal action, escaped from the Cape Girardeau County Jail in Jackson by hiding in a trash bag. He used his 64 hours of freedom to seek revenge, assaulting the mother of the woman he was accused of kidnapping and the mother's male friend with a hammer. Bucklew was captured June 19 on Highway 177 south of Egypt Mills, Mo.

Feb. 7, 1997: Felisha M. Heurst, 18, of St. Louis walked away from the Cape Girardeau City Jail while taking out trash. She was caught Feb. 9 at Schnucks, 19 S. Kingshighway.

June 2, 2002: Casey Legate, 20, and Paul Lutes, 23, overpowered a dispatcher and escaped from the Bollinger County Jail Marble Hill, Mo. The pair was captured June 4 in rural Glenallen, Mo.

March 22, 2005: Samuel King, 18, of Jackson managed to pick leg shackles he was wearing in the Scott City booking room, having concealed a wire in the waistband of his pants. It took King about 40 seconds to get the wire, unlock the shackles and run out. Police recaptured him the next day.

Sept. 30, 2009: Galen Osborne was among a handful of Cape Girardeau jail inmates being transported back to the city jail from municipal court. When the van drove to the back lot of the jail, Osborne stayed inside when the other prisoners exited, and jailers failed to notice his absence. He shed his orange jumpsuit and donned clothes he found in a nearby car. He turned himself into police that evening.

Feb. 15, 2012: A prisoner being held at the Stoddard County Jail escaped custody just before noon from a courtroom in the Stoddard County Justice Center. Jason Stroup, 34, was awaiting his appearance before Judge Stephen Sharp when he apparently walked out of the facility. He was caught the next day near the Bollinger County line.

March 17, 2012: Michael P. Blackmon, 31, escape from the New Madrid County Jail by breaking a security window in a cell and another window leading into the courtyard. Towels, which had been tied together, also were found on the jail's roof. Blackmon was caught by authorities a few hours later in Scott County.

March 11, 2013: Matthew Brandon Cook, Kade Reaves Stringfellow and Rodney Joe Green escaped through the ceiling of the Butler County Jail around 11:30 p.m. The inmates removed a sheet metal cover over a small hole in the sheetrock portion of a ceiling in a shower area. They were able to climb into a small space between duct work and the main ceiling of the cell block. They then dropped into the lobby and ran out the door. The escapees were found the next day hiding in the cab of a truck at a salvage yard, still wearing their orange jail suits but without their shoes.