Authorities recapture convicted murderer in North Carolina who escaped

A convicted murderer in North Carolina who escaped prison detail on Wednesday was recaptured at a hotel in Alamance County early Friday, authorities said.

Authorities took Ramone Alston, who is serving a life sentence, into custody before 2 a.m., EDT, without injury. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said he was found with acquaintance Jacobia Crisp, who was taken into custody and charged with felony aiding and abetting a fugitive.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said Kannapolis Police and Charlotte’s FBI SWAT agents assisted in the arrest.

Alston escaped from officers on Tuesday morning while he was being taken for a medical appointment at the University of North Carolina Hospitals’ Hillsborough campus, authorities said.

“He had freed himself from leg restraints and, still in handcuff, jumped out and ran into adjacent woods,” officials said in a statement on Facebook. “When last seen, he was also wearing, a belly chain with a black box over the junction.”

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper had offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to Alston’s recapture.

Alston had been serving his sentencing at Bertie Correctional Institution for the Christmas Day shooting death of 14-month-old Maleah Williams in 2015. The child was caught in the middle of a drive-by shooting in Chapel Hill, N.C., while they were playing in a parking lot apartment complex.

“Alston will be charged with felony escape from prison and is being taken to a high-security unit in the state prison system,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said, according to the Charlotte Observer.

“There he will resume serving his life sentences for first-degree murder and await court appearances for his escape charges.”