Jail escapee recaptured after three-hour manhunt

An inmate who squeezed through a gap in a jail recreation yard fence was recaptured after a three-hour search Thursday evening.

Jimmy David McKinney, who was being held on parole violation and misdemeanor charges of fictitious tags, driving on a suspended license and no proof of insurance, was able to force his way through a space where the fence enclosing the Faulkner County Detention Center Unit II recreation yard meets a pipe, Faulkner County Sheriff Karl Byrd said.

Police were aware of the escape "just a minute after he got out," Byrd said, and reports from citizens indicated that McKinney was travelling north on foot, prompting a joint Faulkner County Sheriff's Office/Conway Police Department search of an area that included a mobile home park and industrial sites as well as residential neighborhoods.

"We have a great working relationship with the Conway Police Department," Byrd said. "We are very appreciative of their quick response and assistance in this situation."

After an initial search and police saturation of the area, Byrd said, "we backed off a little bit hoping he'd come out."

This tactic worked. A citizen notified police of a man matching McKinney's description and he was arrested at about 7:40 p.m. on Griffith Street by CPD and FCSO officers.

"I'm not sure where he was hiding at, but he's real cold and real wet, so he must have been outside somewhere," Byrd said.

Byrd said that charges stemming from the escape attempt are being drawn up, but given that the man was held on violation parole from the Arkansas Department of Corrections, he likely will be returning to an ADC facility.

Three inmates escaped from the same recreation yard in May after forcing open a hole in another part of the fence. One of these escapees, Roman Montoto, 16 at the time of escape, remains at large.

(Staff writer Joe Lamb can be reached by e-mail at joe.lamb@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1238. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)