Logan County sheriff ’s officials were investigating Tuesday how the escape of a county jail inmate Monday afternoon was not discovered for 12 hours, leaving a cold trail for searchers to follow for the still-missing man.
Chief sheriff’s deputy David Spicer said Gary Patrick Topham, 49, is believed to have climbed over the chain link fence of the Paris jail’s exercise yard between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. Monday. He said jailers discovered him missing from his cell about 4 a.m. Tuesday. A head count at that time confirmed he was gone.
“With a 12-hour lead, he could be anywhere,” Spicer said.
He said the sheriff’s office was conducting two investigations. The first seeks to locate and recapture Topham. The other will try to determine how he could be missing so long without anyone at the jail noticing.
Deputies searched for Topham where he had connections in the area, Spicer said, including the homes of friends and family. They also made a cursory search of the area around the jail.
But because Topham had gotten such a big head start and deputies lack any solid leads, there has been nowhere to concentrate a search, Spicer said.
He said there had been one or two calls of possible sightings, one from another county, but those sightings were not confirmed.
Topham last escaped from the county jail in November by climbing over the chain link fence. He was recaptured three days later in Booneville, an Associated Press report said.
The report said Topham was being held on charges of failure to appear, fleeing, manufacturing methamphetamine or cocaine, and possession of a controlled substance.
Topham is described as a white man about 6 feet tall and weighing about 165 pounds. He has brown hair, brown eyes and wears glasses. He was last seen wearing his black-and-white jail uniform and orange sandals.
Anyone with information about Topham’s whereabouts is asked to call the Logan County sheriff’s office at (479) 963-3271.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 02/26/2014