March 27, 2008 — More information has come to light about how convicted murderer Jeffery Warner escaped from Golden Grove Correctional Facility March 15.
(See "Rapist-Murderer On the Loose After Breakout — Reward Offered.")
Gary Evans, the Bureau of Corrections' director of programs, performed a preliminary investigation and filed an affidavit with the court outlining what is known thus far. A corrections officer came on duty shortly after midnight March 16 and, upon performing a bed check, found L&K Unit cell No. 14 — Warner's cell — empty, Evans wrote in his affidavit.
The guard searched the area and the area outside, and found a sheet tied to a basketball hoop support in the prison recreation area, close to the roof and fence area where Warner is thought to have escaped.
The guard from the previous shift said that when he performed a bed check, he noticed the cell door ajar and pulled it shut to latch and lock the cell, but did not check to see if Warner was in the cell, Evans wrote in his affidavit.
Warner, 45, was convicted Nov. 13, 2002, of murder in the second degree and three counts of aggravated rape. The convictions are for three separate rapes of three teenage girls at knifepoint and the murder of one of the girls. The crimes occurred on St. Thomas. Superior Court Judge Brenda J. Hollar said in the court's decision that while Warner was sentenced to life in prison, because the murder was second degree, rather than first degree, Warner would be eligible for parole after 15 years.
Warner was recaptured March 20 in the bush around La Grange, a neighborhood up in the hills behind Frederiksted, after an extended manhunt. (See "Escaped Murderer Captured on St. Croix.")
He appeared in court March 22 to be advised of his rights, and he will be arraigned on the charge of escaping from custody at 9 a.m. April 9 in V.I. Superior Court on St. Croix.
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