Police in West Virginia are searching for an inmate who disguised himself as a civilian and walked out of a jail, giving himself at least a 36-hour head start.
Todd Wayne Boyes, 44, was able to get his hands on khaki pants and a dark green or grey zip-up jacket, and walked out of the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, West Virginia, just before 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety said in a statement.
But it wasn't until 7 p.m. Thursday night that jail staff realized Boyes was missing. In that time, according to the statement, there had been three formal inmate head counts, and two informal counts overnight.
When jail staff reviewed the footage captured by the facility's security cameras, they discovered he'd left the previous morning.
Boyes was due to be sentenced to three to 20 years in prison on Friday, according to CNN affiliate WCHS.
Previously, in Ohio, Boyes had a history of carjacking people at gunpoint, said Sgt. Leslie T. Goldie, spokesman for the West Virginia State Police.
After another carjacking and subsequent car chase in February 2016, Boyes led police to West Virginia, where he used a vehicle to hit a Charleston police officer's vehicle, injuring her, Goldie said. He was shot in the hand by Charleston police before being arrested.
Inmate considered armed and dangerous
Boyes was originally charged with attempted murder for ramming his vehicle into the police officer's, but that charge was dropped during a plea deal.
He pleaded guilty last month to fleeing with reckless indifference to the safety of others, possession of a stolen vehicle and fleeing from police causing bodily injury, WCHS reported.
Authorities said Friday Boyes should be considered armed and dangerous, though there's no indication he was able to obtain a weapon during the escape. Boyes was described as 5-feet-6 inches and 220 pounds.
It's unclear how Boyes managed to escape without alerting jail staff. There is an ongoing investigation into whether the proper protocol for the headcounts was followed, the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety said.
"Officials at both the Regional Jail Authority and the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety consider the incident to be a grave and unacceptable breach of our core duty to protect our fellow West Virginians," the department said in the statement. "We intend to address the episode and the results of the ongoing investigation with the utmost seriousness."
Lawyer claims he warned jail guard
A Charleston lawyer claims he alerted jail staff to the escape on Wednesday, according to CNN-affiliate WCHS. They did nothing, he said.
Kevin Davis has a client in the jail, who he says called him on Wednesday morning, wanting to share "life or death" information, WCHS reported. Davis went to the jail around 4 p.m. that afternoon, where the inmate told him that "Todd with his fingers shot off" had escaped the jail early that morning.
Davis said he wrote the information in a note that he handed to a guard on his way out. "When I handed it to him, he opened it up, I watched him read it and then he folded it back up and put it in his pocket and nothing happened," Davis said.
Jail officials referred CNN to the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety when asked to comment on the attorney's claims, but a spokesman for the department could not be immediately reached for comment Saturday.
