Manhunt for an escaped murderer: Prisoner in the USA climbs horizontally up walls

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The man escaped from prison in Chester County last week

Photo: David Maialetti / AP

In the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the authorities are searching under high pressure for a murderer who broke out of prison about a week ago – and have now published a video of the man's escape. The declassified footage shows the detainee climbing onto the roof.

He used a narrow passage between two walls, supported himself with his hands on one side, with his feet on the other, and thus ran up the wall. According to the authorities, the 34-year-old man ended up on the roof of the prison in Chester County, west of the city of Philadelphia. He overcame barbed wire several times and was able to escape. An employee in a watchtower did not notice the escape.

A representative of the detention center said that an inmate had already escaped in a similar way in May. Since then, security precautions have been strengthened. However, this did not prevent them from fleeing again.

The man had escaped from the correctional facility on August 31. He had previously been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. In 2021, he had killed the woman in front of her children with 38 stab wounds.

Police are searching for the man, who has been repeatedly filmed by surveillance cameras in the region, with a large contingent. There is also said to have been an eerie nightly encounter in the house of a resident: Ryan Drummond told US media that he was convinced that the fugitive man had broken into his home at night at the end of last week. "I woke up my wife and told her, 'I think there could be someone downstairs,'" Drummond told ABC.

He then turned the light on and off several times to signal to the intruder that he knew of his presence. He eventually left the house but stole peaches and apples, among other things, Drummond said.

In the meantime, the authorities have offered a reward of 20,000 dollars (almost 19,000 euros) for information leading to the arrest of the fugitive murderer. Police believe he is still in the area.

czl/AFP