Suspect had been awaiting trial for kidnapping, attempted murder
Grand Rapid Press
BIG RAPIDS, Mich. — As a police manhunt continued late Thursday for a Mecosta County jail escapee considered dangerous, authorities were trying to figure out how he slipped out a shower room skylight.
“He broke some fiberglass the (jail) construction company said could not be broken,” Sheriff John Sonntag said.
About 35 officers from four police departments were looking for Jonathan Joseph Good, 36, after he escaped onto the jail roof about 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, then quickly disappeared after a brief chase. Good was in jail awaiting trial for attempted murder and kidnapping, and had been in prison as recently as 2006 for attempted murder and armed robbery in Wayne County.
Mecosta County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Casey Nemeth said in a statement released Thursday evening that Good was possibly hiding in abandoned housing in the Big Rapids area. Good, who escaped in his underwear and a T-shirt, might have obtained clothing and tried to change his appearance by cutting his hair, the statement said.
Because of the severity of the charges, Good was in a cell by himself with its own shower, Sonntag said. A cell check was planned only a minute before a roof-top camera captured him running on top of the building.
Somehow, Good managed to force off a steel grate from the skylight, then break the fiberglass and climb out. The jail was built in 1996.
After he climbed down from the roof, a corrections officer gave chase, but Good had at least a 100-yard head start and got away.
Sonntag could not say how long Good might have planned the escape, but said the skylight escape “took some time and effort.”
“When you spend a long time in jail, you have a lot of time for thinking out things,” he said.
Officers with the Michigan State Police, Ferris State University Public Safety Department and Big Rapids police were helping in the search.
Searching neighborhoods
Police were knocking on doors, searching with three dogs and using a helicopter Thursday to look for Good. At least a third of Big Rapids was searched, Sonntag said.
Good was being held on more than 30 felony charges in connection with a string of burglaries in several counties. Deputies described him as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, 160 pounds, with a goatee and glasses.
Sheriff’s officials say he is dangerous and should not be approached, but anyone seeing him should call 911. Sonntag advised Big Rapids residents to be vigilant and check on neighbors to make sure they are OK.
In March, Good and four teenagers were charged in connection with at least 10 burglaries at businesses in six counties -- Barry, Ionia, Montcalm, Mecosta, Eaton and Clinton.
Authorities say group members shot up a home in Morley, wounding the homeowner. Investigators say the suspects were trying to keep the homeowner from identifying members of the group who had taken the husband and wife hostage during a home invasion three days before.
In May, one of Good’s co-defendants, Cody L. Bodo, 17, of Charlotte, pleaded guilty in a deal that would limit his prison time if he testified against other defendants.
Copyright 2008 Grand Rapids Press