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It might have been a toothbrush that enabled two inmates to escape from a Virginia jail this week, but their quick recapture may have stemmed from a need to sink their teeth into something filling, according to an official account.
The two who fled Monday from a jail annex in Newport News, by making a cavity in a wall with the aid of a toothbrush, were recaptured within hours at an IHOP, the sheriff’s office said, ending their brush with liberty.
The yarn, which offered a good deal to chew on, began Monday at the Newport News Jail Annex, according to the sheriff’s office in the Tidewater-area city.
The two inmates dug out a hole in the wall there with makeshift tools, listed as “a toothbrush and metal object,” the sheriff’s office said. The metal object was not described in detail, but presumably the toothbrush was similar to those in general use.
Those “primitive-made” tools gave the inmates access to untied rebar behind the jail walls; rebar was used to further facilitate the escape, the sheriff’s office said.
