24 year-old Brady Kilpatrick, a nationally wanted fugitive out of Alabama, appeared in a prison jumpsuit Wednesday, 18 hours after he was captured in Tequesta Tuesday
"Yeah it was very dramatic, it was like watching a movie," said Marilyn Tuttle, who lives next door to where Kilpatrick was caught.
An arrest affidavit says after escaping from the Walker County jail in Alabama Sunday night, Kilpatrick called his sister, 18 year-old Jensen Davis Lefan.
Detectives say she and her fiancé, 24 year-old Hayden Mayberry picked Kilpatrick up, and drove him to a house on Hobart Street where one of Mayberry’s childhood friends lived. Martin County Sheriff William Snyder says they had to make a tactical decision on when to move in.
“We weren’t taking any chances and the reason we committed so many resources is that we knew he was a runner," said Sheriff Snyder.
Sheriff Snyder says they had to surround the house especially since it backed up to Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
Lefan told investigators the three tried their best to avoid law enforcement on the 750 mile drive to South Florida.
“They tried to stay of grid. Used cash not credit cards. Sleeping in Walmart parking lots. They knew what they were doing. Doing best they could to evade capture," said Sheriff Snyder.
Lefan said she helped her brother avoid capture because he’s family.
As for Mayberry, he said while he knew it was wrong to aide in the escape, he stated “you do crazy things for love.”
Kilpatrick said Wednesday he would not fight extradition. Lefan and Mayberry are being held on charges of aiding an escape.
EARLIER STORY:
An Alabama inmate on the run for more than two days is back behind bars, but this time, in Martin County.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Tactical Unit, and the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force captured the last of twelve fugitives who escaped from an Alabama jail Sunday Night.
24-year old Brady Kilpatrick was taken down by a law enforcement team at a home on the 10000 block of SE Hobart Street in the south end of the county just after 7 p-m Tuesday.
Martin County Sheriff William Snyder says three other people at the home were also arrested, including Kilpatrick's sister, her fiance and a friend of the fiance. They are facing aiding and abetting charges.
Sheriff Snyder says his agency got information from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Tuesday afternoon that Kilpatrick was in the southern part of the county. The arrest came just a couple hours later.
"We got a tip that brought us into that vicinity and additional information, investigative techniques we probably won't discuss tonight, but we finally were able to zero in on that particular house. Fortunately for us, there was actually a car there with Alabama tags, so everything pointed to that house," Snyder said.
Kilpatrick was the last of a dozen inmates to be captured, and the only one to make it out of the Walker County Alabama area.
His mistake was coming to Martin County, according to Sheriff William Snyder.
"He told us he thought he was facing 20 years," Snyder said. "So when he got out and there were 11 others, he told us that he never stopped running. He actually ran for two hours and never got pinned down. He was the only one who got out. He just picked the wrong county to come and hide out in."
Snyder said Kilpatrick is being cooperative, admitted to being involved in gang activity, and said he told the driver to 'take him as far south as possible.'
According to reports from the Walker County Alabama Sheriff’s Office, the inmates took advantage of a new guard by using peanut butter to conceal an exit door number. When the inmates called for the guard to open the door and let them in a cell, the guard inadvertently opened the exit door allowing the inmates to escape.
The first eleven inmates were captured within 12-hours of the escape. Kilpatrick was the last fugitive on the loose.
Snyder says drugs were also found at the Tequesta home.
Neighbors on Southeast Hobart Street say they saw local and federal agents with guns drawn closing in on the house. They also say a car with Alabama plates showed up at the home in the last day or so.
Sheriff James Underwood of Walker County, where Kilpatrick escaped, said, "Oh, it's a great feeling. I'm just very proud of all the help we've had here and also down in Florida. And our guys here worked very hard to get this information and it paid off for us.
Kilpatrick will eventually be extradited to Alabama. He has a first appearance scheduled for Wednesday in Martin County.
