UPDATE: Noah Roush and Jatonia Bryant have been captured and returned to the detention center. Officials said they will pursue charges against the people who assisted the inmates in evading apprehension.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ark. – Law enforcement authorities in Arkansas have launched a manhunt after two inmates who are suspected of committing homicides have disappeared from jail.
On Monday, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Noah Roush, 22, and Jatonia Bryant, 23, “may have escaped” the Dub Brassell Adult Detention Center in Pine Bluff “within the last 48 hours.”
The agency said it “discovered two of its detainees were missing” from the jail outside of Little Rock about 10:30 a.m., Fox News Digital reported.
“Both individuals are to be considered dangerous and should only be approached [by] law enforcement personnel,” Jefferson County officials warned. “All efforts are being made at this moment to apprehend these suspects. The JCSO is working in cooperation with the Pine Bluff Police Department Vice and Narcotics, Arkansas State Police, and Arkansas Department of Correction to locate these individuals.”
Dub Brassell Adult Detention Center in Pine Bluff. (Google Maps)
JCSO said Bryant was being detained “on probable cause for Capital Murder.”
Though Roush was being held on “probable cause for residential burglary and theft of property,” JCSO said he is “also a suspect in a homicide,” without elaborating or offering further details, Fox reported.
Roush is described as a White male, 6-feet 2-inches tall, weighing approximately 180 pounds and having a scar on the right side of his head. Bryant is described as a Black male, 5-feet 11-inches tall, weighing about 145 pounds.
“We had a head count this morning and they were missing, but it’s really just a guess as we don’t know at what point they were not in the facility,” JCSO Major John Bean told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette on Monday, adding that “We have two K9 units working” and “They are both young men from the area.”
According to the Democrat Gazette, Bryant is accused of fatally shooting a 49-year-old man in July. He surrendered to authorities last summer shortly after the homicide occurred.
