After nearly four days on the lam, a fourth man was captured after he escaped the Orleans Parish jail last Friday, authorities said. Authorities also arrested a 33-year-old maintenance worker in connection with the escape.
Gary Price, 21, was apprehended by Louisiana State Police in New Orleans on Monday, according to a news release. He faces charges of simple escape and possession of a Schedule II substance and will be transported to a secure facility outside of the area.
Price was being held at the Orleans Justice Center on charges of attempted first-degree murder, domestic abuse and aggravated assault. Additional charges may be forthcoming, according to state police.
What we know so far
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said 10 men escaped from the facility early Friday morning by pulling a defective cell door off its tracks and climbing through a hole behind a toilet. Surveillance video showed them leaving the facility through a loading dock.
Three sheriff's office staffers were suspended without pay. Sterling Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance worker at the jail was arrested. Authorities said he admitted to turning off the water in a cell before the men escaped through the hole. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry directed the Department of Corrections to audit the Orleans Parish Correctional Facility for compliance with basic jail guidelines and to remove everyone incarcerated there from the facility.
Three escapees — Kendell Myles, Robert Moody and Dkenan Dennis — were captured Friday, and charged with simple escape, the sheriff’s office said. The men had been awaiting trial on various felony charges, including attempted murder, armed robberies, aggravated assault, battery, extortion, illegally carrying weapons and illegal drug possession offenses.
Six other men — Corey Boyd, Leo Tate, Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Lenton Vanburen and Antoine Massey — remain at large.
More than 200 law enforcement officers from local, state and federal agencies are currently searching for them.
The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward per inmate for information that leads to an arrest, while the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is offering $5,000 for each one. Crime Stoppers is offering another $5,000 per escapee.
Who is still at large?
Corey Boyd
Boyd, 19, was accused of killing a witness who saw him and others attempting to break into a car in April 2024, NOLA.com reported. He allegedly ran over the witness with a car before an accomplice shot the victim in the head, according to the newspaper. He was booked into the Orleans Parish Justice Center in May 2024 and later charged with second-degree murder, obstruction of justice and threatening a police officer, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
Lenton Vanburen
Vanburen, 26, was arrested in 2021 on a second-degree murder charge while already in custody for an armed robbery, according to New Orleans police. NOLA.com reported that he pleaded not guilty.
Derrick Groves
Groves, 27, was convicted in October of two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder for a 2018 Mardi Gras shooting, WDSU reported. Law enforcement expressed concern that he may try to locate witnesses in his murder trial. He also faces a battery charge involving a correctional facility employee, the Associated Press reported. Landry cited Groves’ delayed sentencing as an example of systemic issues contributing to the escape, and said he planned to issue an executive order to review similar cases.
“If he would’ve been sentenced by a court system, he most likely would not have had an opportunity to escape,” Landry said.
Leo Tate
Tate, 31, faces charges including burglary, drug possession, and theft of a motor vehicle. He was previously sentenced in federal court for being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the governor’s office. He was also connected to a 2018 shooting but accepted a plea deal and prosecutors dropped second-degree murder and attempted murder charges. He was convicted of obstruction of justice and sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to NOLA.com.
Antoine Massey
Massey, 32, was being held on charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation and motor vehicle theft, according to the governor’s office. He is also wanted in St. Tammany Parish on charges of kidnapping and rape, NOLA.com reported.
Jermaine Donald
Donald, 42, was charged with second-degree murder, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm, and obstruction of justice, according to the governor’s office. NOLA.com reported he pleaded not guilty in April 2024. He also faced contraband-related charges, but the district attorney’s office declined to pursue them, Landry said in a news conference.
Sheriff releases statement
In a statement issued Tuesday, Sheriff Susan Hutson said she was taking "full responsibility for what happened," and noted that the jail had suspended staff, made an arrest, and launched internal and external investigations.
"We are also fully cooperating with the independent investigation led by the Louisiana Attorney General, and we have provided full access to all records, surveillance footage, and facility documentation," Hutson said. "This breach happened under my leadership, and it is my responsibility to ensure it is addressed with urgency and transparency."
Hutson had previously cited longstanding infrastructure and staffing issues for the jail’s security problems.
"We are operating with outdated surveillance, aging infrastructure, blind spots in supervision, and critical staffing shortages," Hutson said in her latest statement. "These vulnerabilities have been raised repeatedly in our funding requests and now, the consequences are undeniable."
At a press conference Sunday, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city had allocated more than $577 million to the sheriff’s office over the past seven years.
“So we have been doing our part, my administration, and we will continue to do that on behalf of the residents and visitors that we serve every day,” Cantrell said.
