Jail Escape Update

BLOGGER COMMENTS:  It's been a rough week for the blog and we're a little behind the news curve, but in case you haven't kept up with the escape, the manhunt, and the missing teenager, here's a recap.

The MCSO explains how the escape happened.  Or you can go to SO facebook page.

Authorities continue search 

 for Morgan jail escapee

While local and state authorities searched for a Morgan County Jail escapee late Monday, sheriff's investigators are reviewing video to help ensure another escape doesn’t happen.

Meanwhile, a Lawrence County Jail inmate who escaped early Sunday morning is back behind bars.

Morgan sheriff's spokesman Mike Swafford said John Kaleb Gillespie, 30, a registered sex offender, apparently used bedsheets to help him find freedom Sunday afternoon. Gillespie is deemed dangerous and has a violent history with law enforcement.“This is the first successful escape from inside the secure area of the Morgan County Jail,” Swafford said. “We’ll look at it and see that it doesn’t happen again.”

Swafford said Gillespie likely had been missing 45 minutes before his absence was suspected. “We could come up with a 100 different theories; we don’t actually know (how he got away),” he said.

Swafford said it appears Gillespie went to the recreation area of the jail and climbed the steep wall after getting a boost from a fellow inmate, then used the bedsheets “to get down more safely.” He said Gillespie may have had the tied bedsheets wrapped around him under his jail clothes.

Swafford said the climb and drop were each between 20 to 30 feet. The surveillance video doesn’t show what Gillespie grabbed to climb the wall, Swafford said, and he exited on the east side of the jail. Gillespie ran toward the courthouse about 12:23 p.m. Sunday,

And...

Police: Missing Moulton teen could be in danger with Morgan escapee

• By Michael Wetzel Staff Writer
 

A missing Moulton teenager could be in danger with a Morgan County Jail escapee, who is a registered sex offender, according to the Moulton police chief.
Chief Lyndon McWhorter said Peyton Bryleigh Ledlow, 16, was last seen Monday and reported missing Monday afternoon. McWhorter said the Lawrence County High School sophomore may have ties with John Kaleb Gillespie, 30, who escaped from the Morgan County Jail on Sunday afternoon. Authorities said Gillespie is deemed dangerous and has a violent history with law enforcement.
“I believe there’s a possibility she’s with him, and if she is she could be in danger based on our past dealings with him eluding law enforcement,” McWhorter said.