Law enforcement gives update on escaped inmate convicted of murdering 1-year-old girl
Thanks for joining us again this afternoon everyone
I'm Keith Acre
I'm the communications director for the Department of Adult Direction
We also have Sheriff Bush speaking with us today again
and um Kirby Saunders as well the emergency management uh
director for your account for Orange County
Um you wanna wanna pick up for first sheriff Ok
Um I'll just start off by saying we're coming to
the phase of this search investigation where it's time to
make a transition
The ground search phase of this is coming to a
close all the resources you've seen on the ground in
the past 48 hours have done an exhaustive job of
searching the local area
At this point we're pretty certain that Alston is not
in the immediate local area
So at this point this becomes more of a phase
where we follow tips and we follow leads and we
work the investigative angle of this and respond to things
that we learn
I will tell you that since the reward has been
in place for the past 24 hours or so the
volume of calls coming in has been significant and steady
and a lot of folks are providing information
We're very thankful for that
We want to continue to encourage that if you've seen
something or if you know something please come forward and
share that information
That will be a great help in helping us get
offender Austin back into custody
We're very thankful to Sheriff Blackwood and all of the
other agencies that have supported over the past 48 hours
The Department of Adult Correction will be taking the lead
on the search from here on other agencies will continue
to provide support provide investigative support
But we're going to allow Sheriff Blackwood and his team
to get back to their more day to day duties
and I'll leave it at that
Sure
Just yeah
So Kirby Saunders emerged services director as Keith just mentioned
we are in the process of transition transitioning from a
unified command approach into a single incident command with the
Department of Adult Corrections taking the lead from here on
This is always Lynn's partners called corrections incident and we
searched up a lot of resources to support them and
to support law enforcement and to ensure the safety of
our own community at a point as we've already mentioned
that the ground tactical phase of the ground searching is
coming to a conclusion and we're transitioning the coordinations to
Department of Adult Corrections from here on out
We will continue to stay in a posture of support
provide any resources that we can from Orange County and
support our local law enforcement agencies and also the Department
of Adult Corrections to ensure that our community remains safe
I want to give a couple of highlights of just
a summary of what we did accomplish since yesterday morning
From a tactical ground perspective
Since yesterday morning there were a total of 335 personnel
on the ground involved in both a tactical search ground
search as well as an investigative role that incorporated as
of 2 p.m. 33 hours of continuous service searching their
1980 involved
We covered 1335 acres as of 2 p.m. this afternoon
And we feel pretty comfortable from a search standpoint that
offender Austin is not in the immediate vicinity
We feel comfortable in saying that the community is not
in an imminent danger or risk right now and I
will lean the sheriff to talk through what our recommendations
are for going for the next few hours
Thank you
Um Good afternoon
Earlier today I was asked about a timeline
I made a promise to you to bring that to
you 3:56 a.m. On the day
In question Austin was transported to the blue housing from
the blue housing unit to intake that was at 3:56
a.m. at 4:07 a.m. He was placed in a vehicle
in the Sally Port secured in the transport vehicle and
proceeded to the facility from the facility to UN C
hospital
At 6:50 a.m. they arrived at the hospital and were
provided with appointment instructions as per protocol 659 they escorted
the offender the back of the building and as they
were preparing to open the door to let him out
of the vehicle he took off and run and that
was at 7 a.m. And at 7:01 a.m. when we
were notified of the escape go over that time line
one more time 3:56 a.m. taken to intake F 407
placed in the vehicle 650 en route 659 oh excuse
me 650
They arrived at the hospital
659 escorted the back of the building 7 a.m. They
opened the door at 701 escape occurred
Um I want to reiterate the tip line 9193241082
Also reiterate the $35,000 reward that's being offered
Um Want to reiterate the fact that we're asking people
to check their ring cams specifically with respect to changing
posture
There's a couple of things I want to talk about
One is um the amazing amazing hospitality offered to all
of us by the Durham Tech campus and staff
Um President Buxton JB Buxton
Uh My my gratitude goes out to he and his
staff for allowing us to absolutely own that building for
the last couple of days
Um They treated us like kings and queens and and
made it very comfortable for all the law enforcement agencies
to work together in partnership that everyone there in the
law enforcement leadership role has said is something that they've
never experienced before
And and when I speak to that I'm talking about
you always hear about the FBI or the SB I
pushing back on local law enforcement or law local law
enforcement pushing back
That is a not been the case here
Um everyone has worked in a partnership um played nice
in the sandbox as everybody says
Um and I'm I'm really proud of the way we've
all come together and worked there
And I think having that building to work together in
made a huge difference because we were with each other
We saw how hard each of us were working with
one another and that makes a huge difference
We're going to give them that university back and let
those students come in and out and not have to
see uh extreme law enforcement presence which has been over
there
I also want to thank Colonel Freddie Johnson of the
highway patrol for giving us air support and giving us
ground support with the troopers that were available today
Of all the law enforcement agencies within this county responded
in a in a really a great way and helping
us with an extreme event and they did that in
a fine fashion
The North Carolina Sheriff's Association again Eddie Caldwell putting the
sheriff's helping sheriff's network together over the last two days
has provided us a tremendous amount of staffing
We've got deputies from seven counties that have been working
with us and they came in with no questions asked
ready to go ready to take an assignment get in
the woods do what they had to do
And they spent a great deal of time walking in
the woods today and it's been kind of warm so
we really appreciate that
But our local law enforcement again even so much as
Chapel Hill coming up to help us in Carrboro taking
the calls for Chapel Hill police while they were helping
us
It's just it's been a joint effort and you know
people say a whole lot about the great sheriff the
sheriff's not the sheriff without the people that have been
together over the last couple of days
So we really appreciate that
What tomorrow will look like will be slightly different
We're probably not going to have a press conference unless
something big happens
We will be in touch with you Alicia Stepper
My pio will be shooting out press releases as the
day goes on
But we won't be having these pressure like we've been
having unless something does occur
Um what it's gonna look like around our office is
we're going to be able to get back to work
as usual with the Department of Adult Corrections taking over
Um we're grateful to them for the staff that they
provided and the way that they've helped us over the
last couple of days help them we are however going
to have them in our facility our patrol room is
going to be turned into our Intel unit and the
FBI the Department of Corrections and all the other workers
that are working so hard and diligently right now on
Intel will be working out of my office there
Our command staff our command branch rather will be operating
out of my office suite what I call my round
table and that will be reduced from about 27 people
down to about four or five so smaller footprint still
doing the the the work that we've been doing but
in uh hopefully a much more efficient manner and with
uh less intrusion on our partners in the county
So um having said that I think I've covered everything
from the phone cams
I want everybody to check their um doorbells cameras uh
know that there is a reward out there know what
the number is to call in case they've got a
tip
And I will tell you that the tip line has
been full this afternoon which is really good
I don't know the quality of the calls that are
coming in but I know that the content has been
elevated
So that's really a good thing and we hope we
stumble across a nugget while we're doing that with that
Um I will just uh and I wanted to say
too to my staff this with me my command staff
Some of them are with me today and I just
appreciate them and their support of not only this operation
but of me they have checked on me constantly because
they know that I've been awake for a while and
I just appreciate them taking care of me
So are there questions Sheriff Blackwood I know they said
they don't believe that he's in the immediate area
Is there reason to believe that he's not in the
state There has been a a few leads that suggest
that he may not be in the state
There are also some leads that suggest that he is
in the state
What would you say to people who are nervous about
this Not in our area Same thing I said the
other day I think everybody needs to be concerned about
their safety every day
Um I cannot pinpoint an area to tell a certain
group of people in a certain neighborhood or state that
they need to be on a heightened level right now
I just I don't that Mark has got to be
at about 90% for me
Um so you know the the level of care that
you need to take and being aware of your surroundings
always ought to be kind of elevated
But I can't tell one county or state or city
to elevate more than another right now because I'm not
at that 90% mark
Is there any update right now on how he got
out of the Lakers So there's not again
And I I don't want to get into the logistics
of how folks escape but I will tell you that
folks who've been incarcerated are used to wearing these things
no tricks that they can do to make them work
for them
And we probably think that's what occurred here
I had a question specifically for you Keith as it
related to the Department of Corrections
I might have missed this yesterday but the guns in
the transport vehicles they're kept in locked boxes
Correct No the officer had their weapon on them and
and and regulations procedures at the hospital allow them to
carry those into the hospital with them and they were
prepared to do that
Ok
Was there any chance that they had a chance to
draw those weapons I think from from what the sheriff
has explained to you this all happened so quickly
There wasn't a chance to do that
Ok
And then one more question I have is kind of
a follow up
So we had a few people ask
So this guy is in Bertie County with a partnership
with UN C Health
I'm pretty sure there are some health care facilities on
the eastern part of the state
How is the situation prompted the Department of Health directions
to review uh transport future transport needs to prevent this
from happening
There are a lot of factors we're going to look
at in the after action review and and certainly that
will be one factor
A lot of people have asked about you know why
do you why do we treat in Hillsboro all the
way from Berke County part of that There's two reasons
for that
One is he had received care here before and this
was a follow up appointment to see the same providers
he had seen before
When he when he received care the first time he
was not housed in Bertie County he was housed somewhere
else
Um And second part of that is we have contractual
arrangements with different medical hospitals and different care providers to
provide certain types of care un c hospitals provides for
us a wide variety of specialty services
And I happen to do that for us here in
Hill
Thank you through the Department of Corrections
What you were able to review so far
Have you found any indication whether it was phone calls
or anything from when he was in custody You know
connections conversations with people outside of the facility that might
have been planning this Not yet
Those are all things we're looking at obviously like I
said information has been rather limited but we're looking at
all those avenues exhausting all those investigative means we have
We don't want to share everything we know at this
point for obvious reasons but we're working on that
So he's been charged with felony escape which is which
is crime
Were he to be convicted He would have added to
his additional sentence
He already has a life sentence anyway but this would
be something on top of that
I'm not aware of any other prior escape attempts for
him
He does have a long criminal record but none of
those are escape attempts
To my knowledge I heard about an arrest out of
Charlotte a man in a stolen charger
Any reason to believe that that could be connected to
Mr Alston I don't believe that you mentioned earlier that
you said earlier
Somebody knows out there that this is planned
Do you still believe that as of this afternoon Yes
ma'am
I do
the search of businesses homes
Have you seen any video from any homeowners ring camera
any business since the escape No we had someone call
us and say that they thought they had had a
had captured him on their ring camera but it was
not him
Um One other thing I want to go back to
we mentioned the fact that he's being charged with a
crime
I wanna make one thing very clear to anyone out
there that was involved in helping him the aiding and
abetting and the escape of an inmate such as this
is a class H felony
And if we can prove that you were involved in
this you're gonna be charged and um just want everybody
to to think about that while that $35,000 is hanging
out there
Have you had a chance to speak with the family
of that one year old girl who sadly was on
Christmas Day So um I have not personally had a
chance to speak with any of the family members
However one of the aunts is a very dear friend
of my daughter and they have had communications and um
I can tell you that they're reliving this and they're
hurting all over again
And you know while that little girl is not with
us anymore and nobody has really paid attention to that
fact a lot of people are focusing on the acts
of this criminal and that's hurtful for the Department of
Corrections
Was there a failure in procedure after what you were
able to review from the limited not that we're aware
of at this time Sure
Um you had a significant number of deputies from three
agencies at Home Depot this afternoon or this morning
Uh was there something in that area that brought that
many officers there to search the woods and the railroad
tracks No Tammy we had um uh a significant number
of deputies across the entire county from a number of
agencies
Uh and I'm gonna do my best
Tina you're gonna help me Chatham person
Durham aliments vents uh a le uh that's alcohol law
enforcement un C hospital police Chapel Hill Police was with
us yesterday
I will say that while they were here
Of course Carrboro was covering that what we have done
Uh Did I miss anyone Hillsboro Police also I'm sorry
in highway patrol um these missions are are given out
with a degree of um Kirby I'm gonna ask you
to come and and explain the the the uh percentages
and the when our guys go out into the field
they bring back a a form and that form has
certain questions which lead us to tell whether or not
there's a probability that something might be in that area
And then we take that feed it into this database
and it tells us a map of places we ought
to be checking
So the social media experts on Facebook they're out there
telling us where we need to be looking need to
really pay attention to what Kirby's getting ready to share
with you
Yeah
So to answer your question Tammy what those uh deputies
doing at Home Depot
That was just a drop off and pick off point
for their assignments that morning
Uh So we were they were focusing on the railroad
track uh adjacent to the Home Depot area two different
teams one going north one going south as I mentioned
this morning we were focusing our attention on canine tracks
that led us north of the siding and that was
in the vicinity of where those tracks kind of went
cold at
So we attached uh T 22 different teams to go
to those areas to look for what we call article
searches
In that aspect we were looking for any clues that
lead us to show that that person was there whether
it be uh you know discarded clothing a piece of
the handcuffs or chains a footprint uh any evidence that
he may have changed his appearance
I know that was a question this morning
So those were the things we're looking for um in
any search mission
Um we or search operation we we break kind of
this really big area and in this case could be
really the rest of the world as the sheriff said
yesterday and to really bite size small chunks that we
can easily manage
And so we grouped teams of resources as they're available
and prioritized in certain areas
Obviously we know where he went missing from
So that's our primary starting point or where he escaped
from
And then we have dogs we have helicopters we have
a ride of resources to help kind of break this
really big area into really small chunks and prioritize our
resource where we assign those resources
So we always put resources in areas that are most
likely to yield a result in this case hopefully a
find
Um But at the very minimum all of our teams
are instructed that beyond just looking for an individual that's
fleeing from you we're looking for clues that are going
to lead us to the whereabouts or provide answers to
questions like how they may have escaped or where they
may be headed
Um So that that's in summary how we how we
do every search mission
Um We use statistical data and analysis from countless of
these type of scenarios to give us good intelligence and
information
Statistically speaking about 80% of successful escapees people who escaped
custody
80% of those cases they've been located within 18 miles
of where they were left where they escaped
So it's a very big area that incorporates most all
of Orange County half of Allam Man County and most
of Durham County
Um that that would take us months if not years
to search 18 miles you know look for a need
in the haystack
So we tend to develop two simultaneous operations ground extensive
ground searches looking for the individual looking for clues that
lead us to individual simultaneously running a very robust um
and investigative function to gather intelligence gather information um known
accomplices who they may have talked to
Um And that's in in in both um escape situation
like this and someone who's missing uh just a general
search and rescue type of operation
So those both go hand in hand
The real difference in transition here is we're moving from
the more the less physical out visible in the in
the wooded areas where someone could be hunkered down and
uh laying low or um you know hiding
We've kind of cleared that area where somebody would do
that and we move those resources into that more uh
investigative role
That helped make sense
But you know I you said that you believe that
this was a plan any reason to believe that you
may have had an ally within law enforcement that helped
them
None whatsoever none whatsoever
Um So the folks that we believe and the information
that we're receiving right now are pointing us in a
couple of different directions
And again you see us every day you do not
see that room full of intel experts that are working
Uh I had one of the sacks from the FBI
call me when this thing jumped off and said how
much help do you need and what do you need
And I just said I need what you can send
the room's full
I've got probably eight or nine of our deputies our
investigators who work this type stuff all the time the
technological end of it working on this and they have
been working nonstop
I'm talking overnight through the night of the morning
All these leads are being followed up on all the
technologies being dove into and it takes time to unload
all that stuff and and to be able to go
through it
So again um my staff chief Deputy of administration Tina
Sys Steven Shaw captain over the patrol division and my
chief deputy of Operations Kevin Jones have been keeping all
that stuff running and the le has been writing it
all down and telling it back to you guys
So I'm blessed to have a very capable team a
very talented team and a very dedicated team
It's allowed us to get to the point
We are right now and I'm gonna tell you we
we feel good about this investigation
We feel good that you know the numbers that Kirby's
reporting to you about 80% are found within 18 miles
in a week or so
Um we we've missed the 24 hour the 12 hour
but we're we're we feel good
We feel good about where we are
The other thing about these these data sets that reveal
this information is almost everything that it says about this
type of incident has been on point daylight 30 years
old 31 everything that we have found has pointed to
Mr Austin
So we feel that that's accurate and it's going to
lead us to a successful conclusion
to a high security prison
I'll let the chief talk to that but we're we're
saying maximum security
Yeah certainly
That's our standard protocol when someone comes back from an
escape like this as they go back to our highest
security level usually at central prison in Raleigh and we'll
deal with them from there
You have leads coming from all over the place
Would you label anything as concrete and this one So
I'll tell you that there are two leads
We've got I'm not gonna tell you what they are
that we feel are are solid rock solid
And that's a teaser to the folks out there that
know what's going on and know that they were involved
in it
We we know you and we're coming for you
What would you define as this immediate area where you
believe he's not in right now Is it that 1
to 2 mile lead We're we're we're confident he's not
within a five mile radius
Thank you all the distance between the vehicles and the
nearby
So the nearby woods is not the com com the
problem once he exited the vehicle and and and I
wanna explain something if I were to take off in
a dead run right now everyone here would be oh
my goodness
Your brain takes a few minutes to analyze what just
occurred
And I want you to think about what these transport
people do every day that they come to work
They transport inmates to and from places all over the
state
Now a long time ago when I was a very
young deputy I was kidnapped by a prisoner that I
was transported at gunpoint
I know what that loop that slow down of the
brain feels like
I know what it feels like to say
Why are those handcuffs in the floorboard I just put
them on that guy and your brain has to analyze
that
So you've got to consider what happened when he ran
They were not expecting that they weren't ready for that
and they took off
We don't know the conversation they had on the way
over here and to condemn those folks for what they've
been doing and what they were doing is just wrong
That man had a plan and there was nothing that
they could do to know it and we hate it
all happened and yes we're analyzing what took place to
make sure that we try to ensure that it doesn't
happen again
And we talked about a lot of stuff today about
what we could do better next time
But that's the beauty of this is that no one
no one was hurt severely and hopefully nobody gets hurt
while this this criminal is on the loose and we
can get him back into custody and and uh take
things to a different level
But um then you've got the parking lot is just
like this one and you've got bear grass that's you
know makes the hospital look pretty
And then you've got glass windows to the hospital
So you've got surroundings that create an environment where those
officers couldn't take any evasive action other than to give
chase
And you got a young man who's intent on getting
away and not getting captured and they're doing the best
they can
And that's what they did
Thank you
Thank you