Lance Battreal’s mom speaks about her son’s escape, cancer and capture. (WFLD FOX 32 Chicago, IL) |
By Charles Wilson
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — The second of three inmates who escaped from the Indiana State Prison was captured early Tuesday at his parents’ home in southern Indiana after more than a week on the run.
Convicted rapist Lance Battreal was arrested about 1 a.m. in the Ohio River town of Rockport _ some 250 miles south of the maximum-security prison in Michigan City, state Department of Correction spokesman Doug Garrison said.
The 45-year-old Battreal was asleep when federal marshals and police officers arrived and was taken into custody without incident, Garrison said.
Battreal’s 69-year-old mother, Geraldine Lynch, said her son had been at her home for about five hours when police arrived. She said he had walked all the way from the northern Indiana prison.
“I just was so happy to see my baby boy,” she said.
Lynch said Battreal told her he escaped after being diagnosed with inoperable thyroid cancer and learning that his stepfather had recently suffered a heart attack.
Garrison, however, said the Department of Correction had no record that Battreal had ever been diagnosed or treated for cancer.
Lynch said her son, whose innocence she maintained, intended to surrender after visiting his family.
“He planned to give himself up. He didn’t want to cause no hardship on us,” she said.
Battreal escaped July 12 along with convicted murderers Charles Smith and Mark Booher, both of New Castle. Smith, 48, was captured the following day outside Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s vacation home in Grand Beach, Mich., about eight miles from the prison.
Booher, 46, remained at large Tuesday, Garrison said.
U.S. Marshal Dave Murtaugh said Battreal was being held on a federal arrest warrant but would likely be turned over to state authorities. Escape charges have been filed against him in the county where the prison is, Garrison said.
Battreal’s parents weren’t arrested, and Spencer County Prosecutor Dan Wilkinson said parents are exempt from charges of assisting a criminal under Indiana law.
“I didn’t mean to do anything wrong or anything,” Lynch said. “I just wanted to help my son.”
Battreal’s 76-year-old stepfather has Alzheimer’s disease, she said.
The search for the escapees had been most visible near the prison, which is less than a mile from Lake Michigan.
Officials said the three inmates escaped through the prison’s underground tunnel system, following city sewage pipes and emerging from a manhole. Three prison guards have been suspended for failing to properly supervise the inmates.
Smith, Booher and Battreal all faced at least 30 more years behind bars.
Battreal was convicted in 1998 of abducting and raping a 17-year-old Evansville girl. Booher was convicted in 1999 of the stabbing death of an Indianapolis man.
Smith was serving a sentence for the 1998 death of a New Castle man, who was shot in the head and had his throat slashed.
___
AP news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.