The last of three inmates who escaped from a Louisiana jail by removing mortar and concrete blocks from a degraded part of a wall earlier this month has been captured, authorities said.
Keith Anthony Eli II, 24, was taken into custody in Opelousas, Louisiana, St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said in a news release on Dec. 19. Opelousas is a small city in St. Landry Parish, about 138 miles from New Orleans.
“Acting quickly on information, Narcotics Detectives and SWAT converged on a structure in Opelousas and were able to apprehend Keith Eli without incident," St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said in a statement.
At the time of the escape, Eli and two other inmates — 24-year-old Johnathan Jevon Joseph and 26-year-old Joseph Allen Harrington — were being held at the St. Landry Parish Jail on violent criminal charges, according to the sheriff's office.
Authorities had discovered the escape on the morning of Dec. 3, Guidroz said. The three inmates found a "degrading part of an upper wall area" and, over time, were able to remove the mortar and concrete blocks to create a hole large enough to escape, he said.
