The Joplin Globe
PINEVILLE, Mo. — Two men who escaped from the McDonald County jail over the weekend are now in custody in Bowie County, Texas, according to McDonald County Sheriff Michael Hall.
Matthew Miller, 22, of Eagle Rock, and Keith Davis, 24, of Anderson, escaped the jail in Pineville sometime after 6 p.m. Sunday by prying loose a piece of metal in the shower area of a cellblock and slipping through the gap between the metal plate and a cinder block wall into an insecure maintenance area of the jail.
The inmates are believed to have swiped a van from Sugar Island Campground outside of Pineville. The van was recovered in Springdale, Arkansas, where a Toyota Land Cruiser and two dirt bikes were reported stolen from a used car lot. Davis had been involved in a theft of motorcycles from the same lot on a prior occasion, according to Hall.
Hall on Tuesday said authorities in the Texas county just west of Texarkana had recovered the vehicle allegedly stolen from Springdale, Arkansas, along with the 2 dirt bikes. The escapees had fled on foot into a wooded area before being captured.
A witness in Texas also told authorities she was pretty sure she saw the two men in that area.
Miller had a hearing scheduled Tuesday in McDonald County Circuit Court on charges of kidnapping, burglary and tampering with a motor vehicle. He and his older brother, Michael Miller, and his brother’s girlfriend, Amanda Rhodes, were charged with abducting Pamela Walker on Jan. 3, 2014, from her home near Washburn, assaulting her and tossing her down a ravine.
Michael Miller pleaded guilty to the charges in February and received concurrent terms of 18, 15 and seven years in prison. His girlfriend’s case remains pending.
Davis was being held on multiple counts of receiving stolen property and tampering with motor vehicles, and a single felony count of resisting arrest.
Miller and Davis are the same two inmates who slipped out of the jail Dec. 8 through a utility access area and returned on their own a short time later. Their break from confinement was not discovered on surveillance video until two days after they came back.
Miller and Davis took a different escape route this time, the sheriff said.
Copyright 2016 The Joplin Globe