Like a scene pulled straight from a movie, Michael David Elliot planned and executed a solo escape from a Michigan prison while the rest of the country was busy watching the Super Bowl. Wearing a white kitchen uniform to blend in with the snow, the man, who was sentenced to two life terms in 1993 for killing two women and two men during a drug money-stealing heist, escaped without help from other inmates by somehow constructing a hole at the bottom of the prison fence and crawling through it. It took prison guards two to three hours to realize he was missing -- and by that time he had already caused enough mayhem to terrorize several nearby communities.
Elliot was reportedly "armed and dangerous" as he tried to make his way out of Michigan by carjacking an older woman and threatening her with a box cutter and hammer. As schools in the area were placed on lockdown and cops began to pursue the escaped convict, Elliot held the woman hostage while they drove two hours south to Indiana. She managed to escape while he stopped for gas by reportedly running to a restroom, locking herself inside, and calling the police on a cellphone she had hidden in her pocket. She wasn't harmed, thank goodness.
The prisoner abandoned the woman's car and allegedly stole another one from a factory. Cops got wind of this info pretty quickly and were able to chase Elliot through a rural area, where they finally arrested him last night. He was taken to LaPorte County Jail in Indiana.
There's lots of crazy in this story, but the thing that stands out to me most is that police describe Elliot as a model prisoner. He wasn't a troublemaker and is said to have had a record of good behavior during his time behind bars. I can't help but wonder how long he has been planning this escape? Has he been putting up a good front for years and methodically plotting the best way to break free, or was it more spontaneous than that?
Regardless of the details behind his escape, it's good news that police were able to return Elliot so he could continue paying for the crimes he committed years ago.
What do you think of Elliot's attempt to break out of prison?
Image via miss_millions/Flickr