Escaped Michigan inmate caught in Laporte County

IONIA, Mich. — A convicted killer who peeled a hole in two fences with his hands to escape from a Michigan prison before abducting a woman and fleeing to Indiana was captured Monday evening after a chase, authorities said.

Officials were stunned by the brazen escape Sunday night of Michael David Elliot, who had a record of good behavior during his 20 years in custody. He wore a white kitchen uniform to evade security and blend in with snow at the Ionia Correctional Facility in western Michigan, prisons spokesman Russ Marlan said.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Ron Galaviz said Elliot was captured in LaPorte County, said sheriff ’s Maj. John Boyd.

Authorities chased the car through LaPorte and into rural Kankakee Township several miles away, where officers used stop sticks to disable the vehicle.

Boyd said Elliot tried to flee but was caught. He was being held without bond in the LaPorte County Jail. He faces charges there of motor vehicle theft and resisting law enforcement.

Marlan said late Monday that Michigan would begin the extradition process.

After his escape, Elliot, 40, had abducted a woman and stolen her Jeep, authorities said. The woman, who was not hurt, escaped late Sunday when he stopped for gas in Middlebury, Ind. The woman’s red Jeep was found abandoned nearby in Shipshewana on Monday.

The woman called 911 from a concealed cellphone while Elliott pumped gas at the store near Middlebury in Elkhart County, authorities said. She ran to a restroom and locked herself inside. Elliot knocked on the door, but she stayed inside until police arrived.

Elliot was serving life in prison without parole for fatally shooting four people and burning down their house in 1993 when he was 20 years old, according to court records.