The Latest on the manhunt for two Georgia inmates accused in the slaying of two prison guards (all times local) :
ATLANTA (AP) – The Latest on the manhunt for two Georgia inmates accused in the slaying of two prison guards (all times local) : 11 p.m. Officials say a Tennessee homeowner held two escaped inmates wanted in the slaying of two prison guards at gunpoint until authorities could arrive and arrest them. Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Bill Miller said late Thursday that the homeowner caught Donnie Rowe and Ricky Dubose trying to steal his vehicle. Miller says the escaped Georgia inmates had crashed a car while being chased by law enforcement and fled on foot into woods along Interstate 24 near the rural community of Christiana. Miller says something alerted the homeowner that people were outside his home and he saw the men trying to steal his vehicle. The trooper says the homeowner held the two at gunpoint with a neighbor he called until the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department could get there to arrest them. Rowe and Dubose are accused of killing two guards on a prison transfer bus early Tuesday. Authorities had offered a $130,000 reward for information leading to their arrests. ___ 10 p.m. Georgia’s governor expressed thanks and praise for law enforcement after the capture of two escaped inmates sought in the killings of two prison guards. Authorities said Donnie Rowe and Ricky Dubose were captured Thursday in Tennessee after leading police on a chase by car and by foot. Deal said the public is safe from these two men because of the tireless efforts of law enforcement. But he also turned his thoughts to the families of Sgt. Christopher Monica and Sgt. Curtis Billue, who were gunned down Tuesday morning. The governor said, “We will do everything in our power to support their loved ones, and we will not forget their sacrifice and service.” Authorities have said Rowe and Dubose overpowered and disarmed the two guards as they were transporting 33 inmates between prisons. ___ 9: 45 p.m. Georgia’s top corrections official said he’s relieved the escaped inmates sought in the killings of two prison guards have been caught. Authorities said Donnie Rowe and Ricky Dubose were captured Thursday in Tennessee after leading police on a chase by car and by foot. Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Dozier said in a news release that the pair “will be brought to justice swiftly for their heinous crime against our Officers.” Dozier also expressed gratitude to all of the law enforcement officers who provided support and assistance in the search for the two men, who had been on the run since early Tuesday. Authorities have said Rowe and Dubose overpowered and disarmed Sgt. Christopher Monica and Sgt. Curtis Billue as the officers were transporting 33 inmates between prisons. ___ 9: 10 p.m. Authorities say the two escaped inmates wanted in the slayings of two Georgia prison guards were captured after a car crash and foot chase in Tennessee. Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles says police in Shelbyville, Tennessee, got a call about a home invasion Thursday. She says Donnie Russell Rowe and Ricky Dubose held an elderly couple captive and then fled in the couple’s vehicle. Police responded and started chasing the pair. Miles says the inmates got in a wreck, left the vehicle and then led police on a foot chase. She says both men were taken into custody in Christiana, Tennessee. ___ 8: 30 p.m. Authorities say they have captured two escaped inmates wanted in the slayings of two Georgia prison guards. GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles says 43-year-old Donnie Russell Rowe and 24-year-old Ricky Dubose were apprehended Thursday in Christiana, Tennessee. The inmates were being hunted in the killings Tuesday morning of two prison guards who were overpowered, disarmed and shot to death on a prison bus southeast of Atlanta. Baldwin State Prison transfer sergeants Christopher Monica and Curtis Billue were slain. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills called the fugitive inmates “dangerous beyond description.” Authorities had offered a $130,000 reward for information leading to their arrests. ___ 1 p.m. The FBI is rolling out what it calls “a significant media effort” including “a nationwide billboard campaign” to appeal for help from the public in tracking down two inmates sought in the killings of their guards on a Georgia prison bus. Agent David LeValley, who runs the FBI’s Atlanta office, says the billboards will offer specifics about a reward, now up to $130,000, and a nationwide tip line for the case, at the number 877-926-8332. LeValley stresses that the reward is for information leading to an arrest. He says “We do not offer rewards for someone to be brought in dead or alive.” The fugitives – 43-year-old Donnie Russell Rowe and 24-year-old Ricky Dubose – are believed to have stolen a white Ford F250 pickup truck with the Georgia tag BCX-5372 around midnight Tuesday in Madison, Georgia. ___ 12: 30 p.m. Authorities say the reward has increased to $130,000 for information leading to the arrest of two escaped Georgia inmates wanted for killing two prison guards. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said law enforcement agencies in Georgia and beyond are conducting “the greatest effort I have ever seen” to hunt the fugitives – 43-year-old Donnie Russell Rowe and 24-year-old Ricky Dubose. Authorities say the men overpowered two guards on a prison transport bus Tuesday and grabbed their guns. Sgt. Christopher Monica and Sgt. Curtis Billue were fatally shot. Sills says it’s possible the escapees may have fled Georgia after three days on the run. David LeValley, agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta office, told reporters that “we are expanding, not shrinking, our effort to find these individuals.” ___ 7: 30 a.m. Funeral arrangements have been made for one of two prison guards killed when two Georgia inmates escaped from a prison transfer bus this week. The Williams Funeral Home & Crematory website shows that the service for 42-year-old Sgt. Christopher Monica will take place at 2 p.m. next Tuesday at First United Methodist Church in Milledgeville. Burial will follow in Heritage Memorial Park. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills says inmates 43-year-old Donnie Russell Rowe and 24-year-old Ricky Dubose are accused of killing Monica and 58-year-old Sgt. Curtis Billue early Tuesday. The manhunt for both inmates continues into its third day Thursday.
