Fourth A fourth inmate who escaped from a New Orleans jail on Friday was captured on Monday, as a massive manhunt involving local, state, and federal agencies intensified in the search for the remaining fugitives.
Fourth By Monday evening, six escapees were still at large after breaking through a hole in the jail wall, sprinting across a nearby interstate, and disappearing. The men — Corey Boyd, Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Antoine Massey, Leo Tate, and Lenton Vanburen — are facing serious charges including aggravated assault with a firearm, false imprisonment with a weapon, and murder.
Fourth Authorities say the group exploited a malfunctioning locking system, the temporary absence of a jail employee who had stepped away for food, and a coordinated escape plan that may have included assistance from inside the facility.
Despite describing the escapees as armed and dangerous, officials waited several hours before notifying the public about the security breach.
Here’s what we know so far about the jailbreak, the expanding multistate manhunt, and the growing finger-pointing over the chaos — which has prompted some frightened residents and even staff from the district attorney’s office to evacuate:
‘Too Easy, LOL’
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said Monday that a chain of failures led to the inmates’ escape, calling it a result of multiple “breakdowns” within the system.
Thursday, when all inmates were supposed to be confined to their cells. But that night, something went seriously wrong.
That night, things did not go according to plan. Just after midnight on Friday, a corrections monitoring technician reportedly stepped away to get food.
At a press conference Monday, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams criticized the lack of real-time monitoring, calling it unacceptable. “Those monitors are supposed to be watched live.”
Eventually, the cell door gave way. The inmates quietly slipped into another cell, and within minutes, ten of them navigated past a metal toilet, squeezed through a narrow hole carved into the wall, and disappeared into the night.
Prepared for the escape, the inmates used blankets to shield themselves from barbed wire, scaled a fence, and sprinted across Interstate 10. They vanished into a nearby neighborhood after discarding their prison uniforms.
Before fleeing, they left a mocking message above the escape hole:
“To Easy LoL.”
The hole itself is just one example of the ongoing failures at the jail, Williams said. That kind of destruction doesn’t happen overnight,” he added.
“This isn’t just about one lunch break,” he emphasized.
The full extent of the escape wasn’t realized until a routine headcount at 8:30 a.m.
DA’s Staff Members Leave the City Amid Safety Concerns
Another critical failure, according to Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, was the delay in notifying the public, victims, and witnesses after the escape.
“If it happened at 1 a.m., people should’ve been informed by 1:30,” Williams said. “They were in harm’s way.”
Instead, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said she wasn’t made aware of the escape until around 9 a.m.
Williams said he learned about the jailbreak from the media, not from law enforcement.
“I am personally afraid — not just for myself, but for my attorneys who prosecuted the case,” he said, referring to Derrick Groves, one of the escapees who had previously faced two trials for a 2018 double homicide. Williams himself led the prosecution during Groves’ second and third trials, both of which ended without a conviction.
Out of fear of potential retaliation, several of Williams’ prosecutors left town with their families over the weekend.
Williams added that his office, in coordination with Chief of Victim Witness Services Alison Morgado, immediately began efforts to notify victims and witnesses. Some individuals were relocated with assistance from law enforcement.
“They are deeply afraid, and I believe that fear is justified,” he said.
Manhunt Expands Across State Lines
Authorities initially reported that 11 inmates had escaped, but later revised the number to 10 after realizing one had simply been relocated to a different cell before his records were updated.
So far, four of the fugitives have been recaptured: Dkenan Dennis, Kendell Myles, Robert Moody, and Gary Price.
The search for the remaining six — Corey Boyd, Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Antoine Massey, Leo Tate, and Lenton Vanburen — now includes more than 200 officers from multiple agencies: the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, New Orleans Police Department, Louisiana State Police, U.S. Marshals Service, and the FBI.
With concerns the escapees may have fled Louisiana, state Attorney General Liz Murrill has reached out to her counterparts in Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, urging them to alert law enforcement agencies in their states.
To encourage tips, the FBI’s New Orleans field office is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to each escapee’s capture. Crime Stoppers has added a $5,000 reward per fugitive, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is offering another $5,000.