Lancet Jades
03-07-2004, 09:09 PM
Inmate Caught 44 Years After Fleeing Jail
POSTED: 10:28 pm EST March 6, 2004
FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- A man was arrested at his Florida home Friday, nearly 44 years after he escaped from a Georgia prison work detail, officials said.
Authorities learned who Eddie Mayes was after he visited his son at a prison in Avon Park in December and wrote his real name on a visitors list, the Fort Pierce Tribune reported. A routine check of the names identified him as a fugitive.
Mayes, now 67, was serving a 35-year sentence for multiple burglary and robbery when he stepped away from the work detail in 1960 to get a drink of water and never returned, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. His sentence had begun in 1956.
Mayes, who used the name Eddie Miller, served a month in jail in 1982 for transporting citrus without a trip ticket, but his identity was not discovered, authorities said.
Mayes was being held without bond Friday at the St. Lucie County Jail, awaiting extradition to Georgia.
POSTED: 10:28 pm EST March 6, 2004
FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- A man was arrested at his Florida home Friday, nearly 44 years after he escaped from a Georgia prison work detail, officials said.
Authorities learned who Eddie Mayes was after he visited his son at a prison in Avon Park in December and wrote his real name on a visitors list, the Fort Pierce Tribune reported. A routine check of the names identified him as a fugitive.
Mayes, now 67, was serving a 35-year sentence for multiple burglary and robbery when he stepped away from the work detail in 1960 to get a drink of water and never returned, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. His sentence had begun in 1956.
Mayes, who used the name Eddie Miller, served a month in jail in 1982 for transporting citrus without a trip ticket, but his identity was not discovered, authorities said.
Mayes was being held without bond Friday at the St. Lucie County Jail, awaiting extradition to Georgia.