A man suspected of murder has escaped from a Louisiana jail after scaling a fence – his second jailbreak in a year.
Tra’Von Johnson, 19, escaped from the Tangipahoa Parish Jail — over an hour’s drive northwest of New Orleans — on Thursday afternoon, police say.
Hours later, authorities say they discovered that Johnson had vanished after someone called to ask if he was still in jail.
Police immediately did a headcount and review of Johnson’s movements from that day, which revealed that he escaped “when another inmate helped lift him over the perimeter fence,” the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
A manhunt has been launched, and police have notified the victims of the home invasion murder that Johnson was awaiting trial for when he left the facility. Johnson, along with two other men, was arrested and sent to the Tangipahoa Parish Jail after a home invasion in 2022 that left a father dead and his child injured.
The sheriff’s office said Thursday’s escape was Johnson’s second jailbreak this year.
Last May, Johnson, the three men also charged with the 2022 home invasion murder and another inmate escaped the jail through the perimeter fence during recreation time.
Johnson and one of the men were found hiding in a dumpster behind a Dollar General Store 22 miles away from the jail.
Thursday’s jailbreak comes nearly a week after 10 inmates broke out of a New Orleans jail. Five escapees remain at large.
The inmates escaped in the dead of night by derailing a cell door, pulling a toilet off its mounting and squeezing through an opening in the wall, authorities said. Once in the jail’s supply loading bay, the inmates used blankets to scale a wall and ran across a highway to flee into the New Orleans area.
“A review of the physical security infrastructure revealed signs of tampering,” the sheriff’s office told The Independent.
“Prior to the escape, steel bars protecting plumbing fixtures were intact. After the escape, at least one steel bar appeared to have been intentionally cut using a tool, compromising the integrity of the pod’s security features.”
A jail maintenance worker has been arrested for helping the escaped inmates, according to officials.
Sterling Williams, 33, claimed that one of the escapees threatened to “shank” him if he didn’t help them, an arrest warrant obtained by NOLA.com said.
Three Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office employees have been suspended without pay in connection with the investigation into the inmates’ escape and two non-employees were arrested for helping the escapees, police say.
