Armstrong jail escapee on loose, sought in killing
Authorities say he is ‘extremely dangerous’; police cast net across region for stolen truck
State and local police employing helicopters in the sky and dogs in the brush Thursday night scoured the rural roadways of Armstrong County in an intense manhunt for a jail inmate who is suspected of killing a woman after fleeing a work-release program.
Authorities said Robert Crissman, 38, who is considered “extremely dangerous,” ran from the jail about 6:30 a.m. Thursday while delivering meals to other inmates. Armstrong County Sheriff William Rupert said Mr. Crissman walked outside to get the meals from a truck and took off.
A state trooper, who asked not to be identified, said Mr. Crissman went to the nearby home of a couple he knew. The couple let him into their Rayburn Road home, and the man then left for work. When he returned about 2:45 p.m., the trooper said, he found his girlfriend — identified as Tammy Long, 55 — dead.
Armstrong County Coroner Brian Myers said Ms. Long’s body was found in the bathroom and placed the time of her death at between 10 and 11 a.m. Authorities did not give a cause of death; an autopsy is to be conducted this morning in Pittsburgh.
“Nobody expects this to happen to their loved ones, especially in
Armstrong County,” Mr. Myers said. “We don’t have many homicides here.”
District Attorney Scott Andreassi said the couple did not know that Mr. Crissman was an escaped prisoner.
Mr. Crissman fled in a maroon 1999 Chevrolet Silverado that belonged to the couple, police said. The truck has a union sticker and Pennsylvania license plate ZDB 5831.
There were various reports throughout the day of possible sightings of the truck, but none came to fruition.
The jail is a little more than 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Mr. Crissman, who is 5 feet 9, weighs 150 pounds and has strawberry blond hair and blue eyes, was in jail for violating probation on a drug charge and was trusted by staff.
There were no violent crimes on his record.
Barry Crytzer, owner of a local advertising paper called The Horse Trader, said Mr. Crissman had worked for him as a handyman doing yardwork and maintenance off and on over the past year.
“He was a very nice guy,” Mr. Crytzer said. “This all seems really out of character from the guy I knew. He seemed like a pretty passive guy.”
Mr. Crytzer said Mr. Crissman quit about three months ago because he had a drug problem.
“He said that drugs were taking over his life and that he wasn’t able to do the job because of it,” said Mr. Crytzer, who told police who are searching for Mr. Crissman that they should check a storage building near his business, which is near the jail and about a quarter-mile from the homicide scene.