By Jim Nolan
The Richmond Times-Dispatch
RICHMOND, Va. — Before he escaped, Alonzo Erwin Logan left what police described as a “suicidal” note in his Bible at the Dillwyn Correctional Center .
He stated that he is not going back to prison.
So it was this weekend that authorities throughout central Virginia were on the lookout for Logan, 41, a career criminal who has been sentenced to 45 years in prison on a slew of larceny, burglary and weapons crimes committed in the counties of Charles City, Caroline, New Kent and Henrico, dating to 1990.
Logan escaped from Dillwyn, in Buckingham County, sometime between 8:30 p.m. and midnight Friday, according to Virginia Department of Corrections officials.
Late Saturday afternoon, police said they recovered a van on Willis Church Road in Henrico believed to have been stolen by Logan in Buckingham County.
Police also said they had information that Logan may have broken into a home and stolen a shotgun.
Police said he is considered armed and dangerous and should not be confronted.
Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said Dillwyn officials found blood on an exterior fence at Dillwyn, suggesting Logan may have been injured during his escape.
Dillwyn, about 65 miles west of Richmond, is classified as a Level 2 facility in the Department of Corrections system. Level 1 is the lowest security-risk classification and Level 6 the highest.
Logan has spent most of the past 17 years behind bars, with 26 convictions, including eight convictions for grand larceny, seven for burglary and four on firearms charges between 1990 and 2001.
Prisoners who serve time at Dillwyn must have no history of escape attempts in the previous five years, according to the Department of Corrections’ Web site .
Friday was not the first time Logan had run.
In March 2001, he was involved in a tense, nine-hour armed standoff with police when he barricaded himself in his fiancee’s Henrico apartment after escaping during a ride to court.
“I love him and I want him to come out of this alive,” Logan’s fiancee, Brenda Bates, told t he Times-Dispatch during the standoff. “He’s got his family. He’s got two daughters and a stepson.”
At that time, Logan had served four years for a series of break-ins and faced more time for burglary, larceny and gun-possession convictions in another jurisdiction.
Logan had stolen the gun of a Charles City sheriff’s deputy driving him to court, then carjacked another motorist and ordered him to drive to Sandston. He holed up in his fiancee’s attic until surrendering to Henrico authorities. No one was injured.
“We sang and prayed our way through it,” Logan’s minister, the Rev. Sharon Broaddus, said at the time.
Now authorities are again looking for Logan, who left his Bible in his cell, with a note saying he’s not going back.
About the escapee
Alonzo Erwin Logan has spent most of the past 17 years behind bars, with 26 convictions, including eight convictions for grand larceny, seven for burglary and four on firearms charges between 1990 and 2001. He has been sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Logan escaped from the Dillwyn Correctional Center in Buckingham County sometime between 8:30 p.m. and midnight Friday. He left behind what police called a “suicidal” note.
He is considered armed and dangerous and should not be confronted.
Copyright 2007 The Virginian-Pilot