MACON, Ga. — On Oct. 16 at around 3 a.m., four inmates escaped from the Bibb County Jail. The four men — Marc Anderson, Joey Fournier, Johnifer Barnwell and Chavis Stokes — broke out from a dayroom window.
Over a month after the escape, all four men have now been captured.
With all of the escapees back in custody, Bibb County Sheriff David Davis spoke to reporters Monday afternoon about what happened and what it took to bring the four men back to jail.
"As soon as we were made aware of the escape, certainly everything went into play, and this is when the team assembled here all came into action," Davis said.
Davis played video showing the men brazenly making a break for it, and he released new details about additional arrests — including a high-level Macon Mafia member — during the course of the search.
"Once you capture one person, that person leads you to another person, who leads you to another person," Davis said. "Intel analysts worked on seized cellphone devices and that sort of thing, [and] sort-of painted a trail of crumbs that led us to each person."
He also provided new details about what happened after the inmates escaped from the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center, or the LEC.
"As we have investigated these folks that escaped, it was determined that once they got away from the LEC and got away, they went their separate ways," Davis said. "They were connected to each other while plotting the escape, but once they got out, they went their separate ways."
Chavis Stokes was the first to be arrested on Oct. 26, caught in Montezuma in Macon County. Then, they captured Marc Anderson in a luxury high-rise in Atlanta's wealthy Buckhead neighborhood on Nov. 3.
Barnwell was arrested in Augusta on Nov. 12.
Finally, Fournier was captured in Stockbridge on Saturday afternoon after hiding out in a homeless encampment, Davis said.
The biggest break in the search for the inmates, according to Davis, was when the blue Dodge Challenger used during the escape was found in a Kroger parking lot on Oct. 20.
"That gave us a good break in the case," Davis said. "When we found that vehicle, it was able to lead us to other vehicles."
They believe Jakaylen Williams had brought contraband to the jail previously with that car. When they found Jakaylen, they were able to find Christian Williams, a man who had gone missing in February, the day before he was set to stand trial on murder charges.
Then, Davis said, Christian Williams led them to his girlfriend, Mykia Williams, who then led them to Janecia Green and Jacorshia Smith.
From there, investigators found new leads that brought them eventually to some of the escapees.
In the news conference, Davis said Smith and Green had been "swapping cars" while they were visiting Johnifer Barnwell up in Augusta.
Davis also explained some of the techniques used in the search for the inmates.
He said that Marc Anderson was captured after Tymeshia Timley, who was arrested for aiding Anderson, ordered over $38 worth of food from the Peach Cobbler Cafe to the Buckhead skyrise Anderson was hiding out in.
"The way that they were able to get him was they were having food delivered," he said. "Once they had the Grub Hub order, we had the apartment number and the next step was— there he was."
In a PowerPoint presentation, they showed the email confirmation of the order, the food dropoff and a text message from Anderson to Timley.
The fugitive wrote, "Police at da door baby I'm going back to jail."
"He knew it was over with," Davis said.
Fournier was a more tricky case to piece together because Davis said he "went off the grid for a little bit." But Davis said Fournier turned himself in, calling his brother to let him know that he gave up.
"But we had been in contact with his family and been working with his family to where finally he decided to give it up," he said. "He had been living in a homeless camp up near Stockbridge pretty much the whole time since he escaped."
Investigators went up to the site where Fournier was living and they confiscated some of his belongings on Friday.
"So he probably figured it wouldn't be long before they we got him, so he decided to turn himself in at that point," Davis said.
But beyond the arrests for aiding and abetting the escapees, the search for them led to other arrests for other crimes.
"We made it our business to get into the Mafia business," Davis said.
Six additional people — Lorenzo Davis Jr, Raquan Parker, Terico Balkcom, Xavier Balkcom Givante Scott and Alfonso Clyde — were arrested on state and federal charges.
Davis said that the arrest of Alphonso Clyde was significant because he is a "very high-ranking member" of the Macon Mafia who Davis said was well known to the authorities in Bibb County. He said that Clyde is now facing federal charges for his role in helping Barnwell. Davis said more arrests are also expected.
While they said the Bibb County Sheriff's Office received many tips during the investigation, some proved to be useful in helping them find the blue Dodge Challenger, but others were not as useful, Davis said.
Instead, investigative techniques were more helpful in tracking the fugitives down, Davis said. FLOCK cameras helped authorities find cars connected to the inmates and search warrants were used to locate them and the people connected to the escapees, Davis said.
But now, the inmates who were returned to the jail are being held "in a special place." When pushed by reporters as to what that meant, he said they are being held in "a cell they can't get out off."
"When all is said and done, that is what it is all about — getting them back into custody," he said.
Davis said that they have made changes to staffing and jail policy to prevent a future escape. He said the Bibb County Sheriff's Office's internal investigation is still ongoing and will be complete soon.
All inmates other than Barnwell were returned to the Bibb County jail. Because Barnwell is a federal inmate, he was not returned to the Bibb County jail.
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