Escaped murderer Bradley "Hurtie" Maxwell, on the lam for a full week, is getting help from individuals in the community, according to police officials.
Bradley, who escaped from the Golden Grove Correctional Facility on July 30, has found some "sympathetic" friends on St. Croix, said V.I. police Capt. Jeremy Swan, a member of a police-Bureau of Corrections task force formed late last week to capture the elusive fugitive.
"We know this because he has been changing his clothes," Swan said. "Someone out there is helping him."
Maxwell, 22, is serving 30 years for murdering a St. Thomas bar owner in 1997 and an additional five years for escaping the Sub Base Jail Annex on St. Thomas. He is also being investigated for another murder and suspected of a third.
During his first escape on St. Thomas in 1998, Maxwell eluded law enforcement officials for about a week.
Maxwell is a black male, 5-feet, 10-inches tall, weighs 175 pounds and wears his hair in short, twisted locks. After he escaped from jail on St. Thomas two years ago, Maxwell shaved his head to alter his identity. Police believe he may have done the same thing following his latest escape.
Police consider Maxwell dangerous and are urging anyone with information to call 911 or 778-2211 immediately.
Maxwell is believed to have sawed his way to freedom from Golden Grove using a hacksaw blade over several weeks. The Special Investigations Division of the Bureau of Corrections is reportedly trying to determine how he made his way out of the cell block and eventually out of the prison compound.
V.I. Attorney General Iver Stridiron, who oversees the Bureau of Corrections, has said anyone aiding and abetting Maxwell in his escape – either in the prison or in the community – will be prosecuted.
"There is no sympathy for a convicted murderer," Swan said.
