Police Recapture Convicted Murderer Who Escaped North Carolina Prison

A man in handcuffs in a file photo. Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

A man convicted of killing a one-year-old child in North Carolina was recaptured on Friday after he escaped custody Aug. 13 while being transported to a medical appointment.

Ramone Alston, 30, escaped from custody around 7 a.m. on Tuesday after the transport vehicle arrived at UNC Hospitals Hillsborough Campus, according to the North Carolina Department of Corrections.

The department said that Alston freed himself from leg restraints and jumped out of the vehicle while still in handcuffs before running into nearby woods.

Authorities recaptured Alston early Friday at a hotel on Cloverleaf Parkway in Kannapolis, North Carolina. No injuries were reported during his arrest, according to a statement by the department.

Shortly after his arrest, a female acquaintance, Jacobia Crisp, was arrested in Alamance County. She was charged with felony aiding and abetting a fugitive.

The department said Alston will be charged with felony escape from prison and transferred to a high security unit in the state prison system, where he will resume serving his life sentence for first-degree murder and await court appearances for his escape charges.

Alston was convicted of shooting and killing a 1-year-old child in Chapel Hill on Christmas Day in 2015. He was serving a life sentence at Bertie Correctional Institution in Windsor.

Hundreds of law enforcement and public safety officials were involved in the operation that led to his arrest, which included FBI Charlotte SWAT agents, Kannapolis Police, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police.

Alston was seen wearing a gray T-shirt and brown pants, with handcuffs connected to a waist chain when he escaped. The department had warned the public that Alston “should be considered as dangerous.”

The department initially offered a $25,000 reward on Tuesday for information leading to Alston’s arrest. The amount was later increased to $35,000, but there were no immediate leads on his whereabouts.

The reward was raised to $50,000 on Thursday, with $30,000 authorized by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper from the state. The U.S. Marshals Service and FBI contributed $10,000 each.

Secretary Todd Ishee of the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction had earlier urged anyone with information about Alston’s whereabouts to come forward.

“There is someone out there who knows where Alston is,” Ishee said in an Aug. 15 statement. “We hope that this reward will bring them forward with the critical information that leads to Alston’s capture.”

The department stated that an investigation into Alston’s escape is still ongoing to identify any accomplices who aided him and assess if he committed any other crimes while on the run.