A parolee who walked off a job site last week in Texarkana was tracked Wednesday morning by prison dogs and found hiding in a shed just north of Fouke.
Jeremy Pifer, 36, was tired, hungry and dotted with insect bites but otherwise fine, said Dina Tyler, a deputy director for the Department of Community Correction.
Pifer was convicted in 2010 of residential burglary. He was released on parole in April 2013.
After failing to report to his parole officer, Pifer was listed as an absconder. Once located, he was sent to the Southwest Arkansas Community Correction Center.
He became eligible for release from the center in July, but has twice been told that his proposed post-release plans weren't acceptable. On Sept. 3, Pifer submitted another plan, but hadn't yet learned whether it had been approved when he took off.
Pifer was part of a work crew picking up trash when he fled into some nearby woods last Thursday.
Since then, a special-response team -- which hunts specifically for absconders for the Department of Community Correction -- has combed the area. On Tuesday, they were joined by dog teams from the Department of Correction.
The searchers caught their first break at 2 a.m. Tuesday, when Pifer entered a convenience store and bought a drink and some food with a $20 bill. The clerk recognized him as the man featured on wanted fliers around town and called 911 as soon as Pifer left.
Correctional warden Jerry Campbell looked at surveillance video from the store and confirmed Pifer's identity, Tyler said. In the video, Pifer was wearing camouflage. Correctional officials believe he stumbled across some deer camps during his travels and pilfered the clothing. It's not yet clear how he obtained the $20.
The prison dogs picked up his trail at the store but eventually lost it, Tyler said.
At 8 a.m. Wednesday, authorities received a call from a Miller County resident who said there was a suspicious person on his property and he thought it might be Pifer.
Correctional officers took their dogs to the residence on U.S. 71 at Miller County Road 43, some 3 or 4 miles north of Fouke. Once again, the dogs picked up a trail.
"They probably went about 200 yards north of the residence, where there's a shed, and he was in there," Tyler said.
Pifer surrendered calmly, telling officers that he had a pocketknife on him.
"We will be questioning him extensively," Tyler said, noting that officers want to know how Pifer obtained the $20. The money and knife may also have come from deer camps, she added.
"We believe he has just been in and around that area, stumbling around. He's from Missouri, so he really didn't know where he was."
Pifer has been charged with third-degree escape and returned to the prison system, Tyler said.
Asked why Pifer would have run away when he was close to being released, Tyler said: "We believe that the fact that he hadn't been able to formulate an acceptable parole plan probably played a role in this."
State Desk on 10/02/2014