Associated Press
IOWA CITY, Iowa —
An alleged bank robber escaped from custody at an Iowa City hospital and eluded authorities for hours in his hospital gown and flip-flops during a crime spree that included assault and carjacking, police said Wednesday.
Authorities said 20-year-old jail inmate Anthony Koehlhoeffer ran away while receiving treatment at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, assaulted a female student outside a residence hall and stole her car.
The student was not seriously injured, but the university warned students in a text message alert Wednesday morning that Koehlhoeffer was “suicidal with violent tendencies.” He remained on the run, perhaps in the Quad Cities region of eastern Iowa and western Illinois, authorities said.
Authorities said Koehlhoeffer initially fled the city heading south. But at about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, a man believed to be him _ dressed in the gown, flip-flops and a hooded sweatshirt given to him at the hospital _ committed a carjacking at a convenience store in Iowa City, said police spokeswoman Sgt. Denise Brotherton.
Brotherton said the stolen green Buick crashed into another vehicle, and a man believed to be Koehlhoeffer fled on foot through the snow in weather that was about 10 degrees. No one was injured. Police told schools to go into lockdown on Wednesday as authorities searched.
After they were unable to find him, police said a woman reported at 9:15 a.m. that she was carjacked by a man believed to be Koehlhoeffer, and that he forced her to drive him 55 miles east to Bettendorf. The man fled on foot and left her in her vehicle, Brotherton said. She said the woman was not harmed physically and the man is not believed to be armed.
Brotherton said Koehlhoeffer was believed to be in the Quad Cities, which include Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa and Moline and Rock Island in Illinois. Davenport Police Capt. David Struckman said officers were coordinating with Bettendorf police.
University of Iowa Police issued an arrest warrant for Koehlhoeffer on a second-degree robbery charge. Authorities in Jefferson County in southeastern Iowa, where Koehlhoeffer had been held at the jail, issued an arrest warrant for the escape.
Brotherton said county jail inmates are routinely transported to the hospital for treatment, and turned over to security there. Jefferson County Sheriff Jerry Droz declined to comment on why Koehlhoeffer was taken for treatment Tuesday evening, citing a medical privacy law.
Koehlhoeffer had previously pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the October robberies of a McDonald’s in Fairfield, Iowa, and Pilot Grove Savings Bank in Packwood, Iowa. Authorities said Koehlhoeffer brandished a knife during the bank robbery and was arrested after he fled by running across an open field.
According to the Memphis Democrat newspaper, Koehlhoeffer escaped from custody in Missouri in 2008 while he was waiting to be booked on a warrant stemming from a parole violation, and he was captured after running from police for nearly four hours. Online court records show he was sentenced to two years in prison and four years of probation.
The newspaper reported that Koehlhoeffer had been on parole after fleeing from custody in July 2007 after he was arrested on suspicion of forcible sexual contact with a 13-year-old female. That charge was dropped and he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of escape from custody, court records show.