Police in Texas release video of person of interest in connection to multiple murders
The Austin Police Department released a video in June of a person of interest in the murder of a woman, and since, have linked the murder to another nearly three miles away. (Credit: Austin Police Department)
Ramone Jamarr Alston, the "Christmas Day Killer" who escaped custody Tuesday morning and ran off into the woods near UNC Hillsborough Hospital, has been recaptured in Kannapolis, North Carolina, authorities said.
Tactical officers arrested him at a hotel on Cloverleaf Parkway around 2 a.m. Friday, according to investigators.
That is more than 100 miles to the west of where he escaped.
Officers with the North Carolina Prison Emergency Response Team search for escaped inmate Ramone Alston on Wednesday morning, Aug. 14, 2024, in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Alston, who was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, escaped on Tuesday morning from UNC Hospitals in Hillsborough as he was being transported from Bertie Correctional Institution to Hillsborough. (Robert Willett/The News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
"Alston will be charged with felony escape from prison, and is being taken to a high security unit in the state prison system," a spokesperson for the state's Department of Adult Correction said in a statement. "There he will resume serving his life sentence for first degree murder and await court appearances for his escape charges."
Ramone Jamarr Alston was captured after escaping custody. (Orange County Sheriff's Office)
Police also arrested a female acquaintance of Alston, Jacobia Crisp, in Alamance County on charges of aiding and abetting a fugitive. Investigators were looking into whether he had help from anyone else and said more charges could be possible.
NORTH CAROLINA MANHUNT LAUNCHED FOR CONVICTED MURDERER WHO ESCAPED ON WAY TO HOSPITAL: SHERIFF
Ramone Jamarr Alston, 30, escaped from the custody of officers from the North Carolina Department of Corrections while being transported from Bertie Correctional Institution to UNC Gastroenterology in Hillsborough to receive medical care. (Orange County Sheriff's Office)
Alston, 30, was serving a life sentence for the murder of 1-year-old Maleah Williams, who died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head during a drive-by shooting.
Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said earlier this week that he grew up with the escapee's father and has known him for a long time.
"He was a troubled child, and he's been involved in criminal activity since he was a juvenile," he told reporters during a Wednesday morning briefing streamed on Facebook. "He's extremely cagey. He's extremely dangerous. And he has nothing to lose."
The Orange County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina was offering $35,000 for information leading to the capture of Ramone Jamarr Alston. Authorities later boosted the reward to $50,000 before a tactical team found him hiding out at a hotel in Kannapolis on Friday morning. (Orange County Sheriff's Office)
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Alston was at the wheel and one of two gunmen in a drive-by shooting in Chapel Hill in 2015, according to the News & Observer. They opened fire in an apartment complex, and one of the bullets struck Maleah in the back of her head as her mother held her in her arms.
