Officer Dead As Two Inmates Escape Texas Prison

HUNTSVILLE, TX. (AP) – Two inmates working in a prison field overpowered a female guard Monday and killed her when they ran her over in a stolen pickup truck as they fled, prison officials said.

One of the prisoners, John Ray Falk, was recaptured within the hour. The second, Jerry Martin, was found several hours later in a tree by Stetson-hatted lawmen on horseback searching woods with bloodhounds. Martin and Falk were working outside the Wynne Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice just north of Huntsville when they overpowered the officer about 10:30 a.m. along Interstate 45, took her weapons and stole a Huntsville city truck that was nearby, corrections department spokesman Jason Clark said.

“They ran over the officer,” Clark said. “We can confirm she did die.” The name of the officer was not immediately released. Martin, 37, had been imprisoned since 1997 and was serving a 50-year sentence for attempted murder. Falk, 40, had been serving a life sentence since 1986 for murder. Based on his good disciplinary record in prison, Martin was classified as a minimum security inmate and assigned to do field work outside the prison under supervision. “In this case, obviously, something went wrong,” Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.

Authorities in Utah were also searching for a pair of fugitives Monday after two convicted killers escaped from a county jail near the Utah-Wyoming border. Danny Martin Gallegos, 49, and Juan Carlos Diaz-Arevelo, 27, escaped Sunday after jumping the fence at the Daggett County jail, about 120 miles east of Salt Lake City, said Jack Ford, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections. He said the men were discovered missing during an inmate count at 8 p.m. – six hours after they were last seen at the jail.

“Both men are considered dangerous. Do not approach,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Gallegos was convicted of aggravated murder in 1991. Diaz-Arevelo was convicted of murder and child abuse in 2006. Because of overcrowding, the two men had been transferred to the jail from the state prison, Ford said. In north Georgia, another search was on for three inmates who escaped from the Fannin County Jail in Blue Ridge. The Georgia State Patrol was called to assist the search by air after the three escaped Sunday.

By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press Writer

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