PINE BLUFF -- A convicted murderer who escaped from the Arkansas Department of Correction's Pine Bluff Unit in late June surrendered Thursday morning to an Arkansas State Police trooper west of Booneville.
Correction Department spokesman Shea Wilson said someone who knew Timothy Buffington saw him Thursday morning and reported the sighting to state police at a roadblock along Arkansas 10 and Arkansas 60 in Logan County.
Roadblocks had been set up in the area since about 5 a.m. Thursday after several credible sightings were reported, Wilson said.
"The individual reported [to troopers] he had seen the suspected escapee only a short distance away along Butler Road," she said.
"A state trooper assigned to the roadblock left the area and moved to Barber Road, where he spotted a man in camouflage clothing outside a home. As the state trooper approached the front yard of the home, he asked the suspect if he was Buffington. The suspect confirmed he was Buffington and surrendered to the state trooper without any resistance."
Wilson said Thursday that Buffington was taken to the Varner Supermax in Lincoln County.
Further information on how Buffington eluded capture for so long was unavailable Thursday. Authorities planned to interview Buffington to seek more details.
Video posted on Facebook by several television stations Thursday afternoon showed Buffington, shackled and dressed in an orange-and-white striped jail jumpsuit, being led to an SUV by officers from the Booneville Police Department.
Buffington, 48, a native of Booneville, was working a maintenance assignment at a house on prison grounds June 21 when officials said he stole a shotgun from the property and fled. He tried to force a prison employee who lived at the house to drive him away, but she escaped and called 911, officials said.
Prison officials said Buffington -- who was serving a 20-year sentence for first-degree murder -- had a spotless disciplinary record. He began serving his sentence in 1998, when a jury convicted him of shooting his ex-wife with a high-powered rifle in Logan County.
He gained trusty status in 2003 because of that clean record and was on track to be released in 2018. As a trusty inmate, Buffington was allowed to work outside the prison doing such jobs as gardening and cleaning, Wilson said.
For weeks after Buffington's escape, multiple state and local agencies, along with Correction Department officers, scoured an area near Pine Bluff for him. Eventually, the search in Jefferson County eased when tips and reports of sightings rolled in from across the state, though none panned out.
Wayne Fletcher, a witness in the trial against Buffington, said he has been looking over his shoulder for the past several months, worried that Buffington would target him.
Fletcher, who lives in Logan County near where Buffington was captured Thursday, dated Buffington's ex-wife, Rhonda Combs, and was in the truck with Combs when Buffington opened fire and killed her.
Fletcher said he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw on social media Thursday that Buffington was back in custody.
"The past few months have been difficult," Fletcher said. "And I wasn't sure if he would show back up here or not or just what would happen. When I heard he had been caught here, I really wasn't surprised. He grew up here and had lived here all his life."
Others in Booneville and Logan County expressed their thanks to law enforcement officials Thursday for capturing Buffington.
Susan Spooner lives just a few miles from where the state trooper took Buffington into custody. She said "a 100-pound weight is gone from my shoulders knowing that this man is behind bars."
Spooner said she "had a feeling in my gut he was back here. Now they just need to find out who was taking care of him and how he was able to run free for so long. I hope they lock him up forever."
Back in Pine Bluff, where Buffington made his escape in June, residents near the prison also expressed relief after finding out about his capture.
Lyle Coulter said he and his wife were nervous for the first few weeks after Buffington's escape but grew less anxious as more and more time passed.
"You have to think that he would have still been around Pine Bluff for at least a few days after his escape, but there is no way he would have stayed here for a long period of time," Coulter said. "This wasn't his home, after all. I guess we will sleep a little better now knowing he is not running loose."
State Desk on 09/19/2014