Two inmates who escaped from a Georgia corrections bus earlier this week were captured Friday morning in Tennessee.
After a three-day multi-state search, the fugitives were finally caught by a brave homeowner in Tennesee. Donnie Rowe, 43 and Ricky Dubose, 24, tried to steal the homeowner’s car but little did they know that their attempt to steal another car would be their last. “The homeowner was alerted somehow, he looked outside and saw the suspects trying to steal his vehicle,” Lt. Bill Miller from the Tennessee Highway Patrol said on Friday. The homeowner startled by the noise called his neighbor and each armed with a gun were able to hold the fugitives in place until authorities came. “I can’t say enough about the bravery of the homeowner, and what they took on, the wherewithal to call us and give us the information so we could get over there and apprehend these two subjects,” County Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh said.
On Tuesday Rowe and Dubose escaped the bus on State Route 16 near Eatonton, a city in Georgia, as it was heading to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison. They commenced the escape by killing officers Christopher Monica and Curtis Billue. The inmates were located in what should have been a locked, gated rear section of the bus, so how the inmates reached the guards is still under question and police say an investigation is still ongoing. “I saw two brutally murdered corrections officers, that’s what I saw,” Sheriff Howard Sills of Putnam County said. “I have their blood on my shoes.”
After killing the two officers, the two inmates fled the scene and carjacked a driver in a Honda Civic who pulled up behind the bus. During their escape, the two only left a bigger trail of stolen cars all while committing other felonious acts. In all the two are said to have stolen five vehicles. But there’s more– they robbed two homes, tied up and harassed an elderly couple and at some point led the police on a wild goose chase where speeds reached 100 mph, according to officials.
Shortly after escaping the bus, the men ditched their uniforms for stolen clothes after they ransacked a house about 30 miles from where they left the bus, Sills said. Authorities followed the fugitives tracks and footprints and discovered that they stole a 2008 white Ford F-250 pickup from a rural business in Madison, Georgia sometime between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. Between Wednesday and Thursday, they crossed over into Moore County, Tennessee, and ditched the truck.
Authorities say Rowe and Dubose stole another car in Tennessee and left it at some point along a state highway in Bedford County but this time covering it with grass and branches. About 30 miles from the Georgia- Tennessee border, they broke into an elderly couple’s home in Shelbyville where they tied them and held them at gunpoint for three hours. “They wrestled with the man and got control of him and threatened both of their lives,” Bedford County Sheriff Austin Swing, told CNN. “[They] tied the man up with a belt and put socks on his hands where he couldn’t use his fingers,” he added. During the three hours, Rowe and Dubose are said to have eaten and then took clothing, shoes, and jewelry before leaving. One thing kept leading to the next; the men got into a 10-mile chase on Interstate 24 south of Nashville when officers saw the stolen vehicle. They opened fire on the officers and hit several SUVs while escaping. Fortunately, no one was injured but the men crashed the stolen card and escaped into the woods, CNN said.
After stealing multiple vehicles and robbing houses their felonious streak came to an end when they came across a homeowner who was determined to put an end to their rampage.
“We are relieved to know that these two dangerous individuals have been taken off the streets, and the public is out of harm’s way,” Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Dozier said in a statement. “They will be brought to justice swiftly for their heinous crime against our Officers.”
