WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Search crews locate escaped murderer

Search crews locate escaped murderer

ST. FRANCISVILLE, LA (WAFB) - After five days on the run, a convicted killer that escaped from the Louisiana State Penitentiary was caught Monday morning and taken back into custody.

Photographs of the captured inmate showed him with what appeared to be serious foot trauma from walking bareboot.  He was wearing wet and dirty clothes when he was captured. 

Henry Smith, 44, was spotted crossing Pinckneyville Road, which is near Wilkinson County, Mississippi. He was captured just before 8 a.m. about 12 miles north of the prison, near the state line.

West Feliciana Parish Sheriff Austin Daniel said Smith was taken to see a doctor before being booked into the parish prison on escape charges.

Smith has been in Angola since 1981. He was convicted of second degree murder in Jefferson Parish.

Cathy Fontenot, a spokesperson with Angola, said Smith was spotted in the Tunica Hills area by an officer from north Louisiana who was in the area helping with the search. She said Smith surrendered without putting up a fight.

An elementary school in West Feliciana Parish was temporarily closed after search crews found signs Smith had been in the area over the weekend. Search crews found rain gear believed to have belonged to the escaped murderer about five miles from the entrance to Tunica Elementary School.

Students were transferred to Bains Elementary School in St. Francisville. West Feliciana Parish Superintendent Jesse Perkins Jr. said will remain at Bains for the rest of the day. Tuesday, they will return to Tunica Elementary. 

Warden Burl Cain said a little kid claimed he saw Smith running through his yard Sunday. Agents found Smith's raincoat in the same area.

Smith turned up missing around 11 a.m. Thursday morning while on work-duty at the prison.

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