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NY Post
New York Post
26 Apr 2023


NextImg:Escaped inmate wanted for killing pastor after jailbreak believed dead, manhunt on for 3 others: report

One of four escaped Mississippi inmates, accused of fatally shooting a pastor and stealing his truck, is believed dead inside a burning home days after the bold jailbreak.

Authorities trailed Dylan Arrington, 22, to a house in Leake County, WJTV reported. The home is currently engulfed in flames.

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Arrington, who escaped from a troubled jail with three others over the weekend, is believed dead inside.

The report comes as officers from multiple Mississippi and federal law enforcement agencies scoured the state Wednesday, with one sheriff’s department warning residents to keep their doors locked.

The escape unfolded around 8 p.m. Saturday when four inmates slipped out of the Raymond Detention Center through breaches in a cell and in the roof, Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones said at a Monday news conference.

Jones said it is believed that the fugitives camped out on the roof Saturday and made their getaways at different times.

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The escapees’ disappearance was uncovered during a headcount at 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

The prisoners — Arrington, 22, Casey Grayson, 24, Corey Harrison, 22, and Jerry Raynes, 51 — had been jailed for various felonies, most involving theft.

On Tuesday, authorities revealed that Arrington, who was in lockup on charges of auto theft and gun possession, was a suspect in the killing of 61-year-old Anthony Watts in Jackson.

Mississippi jail escapee Dylan Arrington, 22, is accused of shooting and killing a man during a carjacking Monday.
Hinds County Sheriff's Office

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Pastor Anthony Watts

Pastor Anthony Watts, 61, was shot multiple times after he pulled over to help Arrington following a motorcycle crash.
St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church

Watts, a well-regarded pastor, was fatally shot around 7 p.m. Monday after he stopped on Interstate 55 to help a man who had crashed a motorcycle he allegedly had stolen just moments earlier.

Police said that man, later identified as Arrington, shot the good Samaritan multiple times before speeding away in the victim’s red Dodge Ram. Watts was pronounced dead at the scene.

Watts was the head pastor of St. Mary’s Missionary Baptist Church in D’Lo, Mississippi.

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Watts’ stolen pickup truck, which has tan trim and Cowboys stickers on the front and the back, was last seen heading south on I-55 in Terry, Mississippi, police said.

Casey Grayson

Casey Grayson, 24
Hinds County Sheriff's Office

Corey Harrison

Corey Harrison, 22
Hinds County Sheriff's Office

Jackson Police Chief James Davis said Arrington is “considered to be armed and dangerous.”

Another escapee allegedly stole a Hinds County Public Works vehicle, which was later recovered hundreds of miles away in a suburb of Houston, Texas.

And investigators believe a red Chevy Silverado that was stolen near the Jackson jail is also connected to the escape.

“We are actively and aggressively looking for these individuals, and we hope to have them back in custody soon,” Jones said. “We are seeking the assistance of other agencies, including our federal partners, to get them back into custody as quickly as possible.”

The US Marshals Service and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations are among the agencies helping with the manhunt.

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Jerry Raynes

Jerry Raynes, 51

Hinds County Sheriff's Office

As of Wednesday morning, none of the escaped inmates has been arrested.

“Be extra cautious, be vigilant of anything that appears to be suspicious,” Jones warned the public Tuesday.

The brazen jailbreak comes 10 months after a federal judge ordered a rare takeover of the Jackson detention center after he said deficiencies in supervision and staffing led to “a stunning array of assaults, as well as deaths.”

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Rolls of razor wire line the top of the security fencing at the Raymond Detention Center

The inmates escaped from the Raymond Detention Center in Jackson through breaches in a cell and in the roof. The jail has a history of mismanagement.
AP

Seven people died last year while detained at the jail, US District Judge Carlton Reeves said.

Reeves wrote in his July ruling that cell doors did not lock and a lack of lighting in cells makes life “miserable for the detainees who live there and prevents guards from adequately surveilling detainees.”

He also said guards sometimes slept instead of monitoring cameras in the control room.

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Attorneys for Hinds County decried the takeover, and Sheriff Jones said in December that county officials were committed to addressing the problems at the jail.

Just days before control of the jail was set to be transferred to the appointed receiver on Jan. 1, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the lower court’s order until it ruled on the county’s motion for reconsideration — a move that was welcomed by Hinds County officials.

With Post wires