By Noah Goldberg
Los Angeles Times
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An escaped inmate accused of killing a hostage in a shootout with police in April was captured Monday standing in his underwear in a creek after a daylong manhunt near Sacramento, according to officials and witnesses.
Eric Abril, 35, was on the run for more than 24 hours after escaping custody from the Sutter Roseville Medical Center early Sunday morning after he was able to “defeat his restraints,” according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. Officers with numerous local and federal law enforcement agencies desperately searched Roseville and Rocklin throughout the day Sunday and Monday.
He was finally located after Rocklin resident Bill Sanchez spotted Abril’s orange jumpsuit lying by the side of the Antelope Creek in Sanchez’s backyard, he told The Times. Sanchez had taken his dog out to the yard when he spotted Abril in his underwear crouching in the creek.
“I started shaking as soon as I saw it. Nobody was around, just me and the dog in the backyard,” Sanchez said. “I look over the deck and there’s the creek that runs all the way through Rocklin and I see an orange jumpsuit laying on the edge.”
Police arrived quickly and approached Abril with their guns raised.
“They told him, ‘Hands in the air or we’ll shoot.’ There was no running or anything. At that point there were four cops with guns drawn,” Sanchez said.
Abril was captured Monday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Office confirmed.
Abril was charged with murder in the death of James MacEgan, who was shot and killed as he and his wife were held hostage while their captor exchanged gunfire with California Highway Patrol and Roseville Police Department officers on April 6 at Mahany Park. Abril, 35, was shot and injured during the shootout and was taken into custody.
Abril’s escape set the Northern California community on edge as helicopters searched overhead and SWAT teams descended into backyards and swept across open fields.
Scott Colvis usually keeps his .45-caliber pistol locked away in his Rocklin home. For the last 24 hours, though, the gun has been sitting on the night table.
That was the case after Colvis and his wife saw Abril on their Ring camera Sunday morning as he strolled shirtless through their front yard.
Abril was last seen in the video outside the Colvis home before he was caught, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“I’m not a big gun guy, but when that happens I pulled it out,” Colvis told The Times. “He killed people. Innocent people. This guy doesn’t seem to care about human life.”
Colvis and his wife were asleep when Abril walked up to the fence separating their front and back yard. The escaped inmate did not even wake up the couple’s German shepherd, Colvis said. It was a beautiful night and Colvis and his wife were sleeping with the back door open, with only a screen keeping unwelcome visitors out, he said.
But Abril did not go into the backyard. Colvis thinks the escapee may have seen the “Beware, German shepherd” sign on the gate.
Abril was wearing orange jail pants and no shirt in the surveillance image shared by Colvis.
The manhunt included resources from the Sheriff’s Office, the Roseville Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies. The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service also assisted with the manhunt.
The Sheriff’s Office said that law enforcement had combed through 64 tips since Abril escaped.
Roseville is just northeast of Sacramento.
Abril was not shackled.
The escape raised questions about the sheriff’s protocols for handling inmates in custody. Numerous media outlets asked the Sheriff’s Office whether the deputy supervising Abril had fallen asleep at the time of the escape.
“Our preliminary investigation reveals the deputy was not asleep during the incident,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “We can confirm at some point, Abril was able to defeat his restraints.”
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