An inmate who fled a work detail site, causing law enforcement to spend much of the afternoon searching for him, was taken into custody the same evening after Officer Steve Morgan with the Owensboro Police Department found him in the wood line bordering the Ohio River.
William Lewis Smith, 29, of Columbus, Ohio, was apprehended and charged with second-degree escape and tampering with physical evidence. Smith was serving time at the Daviess County Detention Center for probation violation for a felony theft offense and two counts of failure to appear. He’d been serving time at DCDC since June 14.
At around 4:45 p.m., the OPD detective discovered Smith trying to continue his escape in the wood line on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. Jailer Art Maglinger said Smith was likely trying to cross over into Indiana when he was discovered.
Smith’s escape was reported missing around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday. The inmate was working with the mow crew under the trustee program, according to a press release from the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office. Smith had been assigned to the Kentucky Transportation garage located in the 2900 block of Fairview Drive.
According to Maglinger, Smith jumped a fence bordering his work area after he found himself thinking of his family while being in close proximity to Horse Fork Creek Park.
“He said being at the park reminded him of his family back home, and he got impulsive and took off,” Maglinger said, adding that investigations through DCDC support the theory that Smith did not plan his escape in advance.
Once he was confirmed missing, a BOLO (be on the lookout) alert was sent to all local agencies. He was found in the 800 block of West First Street.
Officers from the DCSO, OPD, Kentucky State Police and DCDC’s Special Response Team assisted Maglinger in searching for and locating Smith, who began his escape near KY-54 and ended up in northwest Owensboro. Maglinger said Smith told him that he walked the entire way and was not transported via vehicle.
Maglinger said he received information that Smith used a phone in the area of the Cadillac Motel and officers responded to the area.
Smith was also seen by other residents who assisted authorities in locating him.
Smith was able to dispose of his jail uniform. His jail shirt was discovered at Horse Fork Creek Park’s soccer complex off Fairview Drive, while his pants were discovered in the woods near the Greenbelt. Maglinger said Smith found a hooded sweatshirt at the state highway garage’s cafeteria. Smith changed clothes during the escape, but authorities were made aware of that before arresting him.
DCSO’s press release states that Smith was last seen “shooting basketball before being transported back to detention.”
Schools in the area of the incident, including Deer Park Elementary School, College View Middle School, Daviess County High School and Owensboro Community & Technical College were made aware of the inmate’s escape and enacted lockouts and lockdowns for their specific establishments.
Second-degree escape and tampering with physical evidence are both Class D felonies in the state of Kentucky. If convicted of these charges, Smith could possibly be sentenced to a minimum of one year in prison and a maximum of five years in prison for both counts.
