Hunt for Alabama fugitive ends in DeKalb County

A nationwide search for an Alabama fugitive who terrorized several people and abandoned one of the victims in metro Atlanta ended overnight, authorities said.

Shane Anthony Vernon was captured just before 10:20 p.m. Tuesday in DeKalb County, according to the Coosa County Sheriff ’s Office in Alabama. He was arrested without incident and is being held at the DeKalb jail awaiting extradition.

Vernon, who previously escaped from the Coosa jail on Oct. 29, got away again about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, the sheriff ’s office said. Coosa County is about 65 miles southeast of Birmingham.

Vernon, 27, went through a door left unsecured, gained access to the ceiling of the jail, went around four security doors and escaped, according to authorities.

After escaping, Vernon broke into a home in Rockford, Ala., where he robbed the residents, tied them up and drove off in their 2016 Ford Fusion, the sheriff ’s office said. He later dumped that vehicle just south of the Coosa-Elmore county line.

He turned up again Monday evening in Titus, Ala., where authorities said he tied up another family at gunpoint, stole a red minibike and abandoned it, too.

That same day, Vernon kidnapped a man in Wetumpka, Ala., in Elmore County and took his vehicle, according to officials. The vehicle and the victim were found Tuesday in Douglas County, Elmore Sheriff Bill Franklin told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

While Franklin said the victim was traumatized, “all indications are that he is OK.”

The Elmore County District Attorney’s office said Vernon faces three counts of robbery, two counts of burglary and one count of kidnapping. Warrants have also been signed for second-degree escape, two counts of robbery, two counts of imprisonment and one count of theft of property.

He was originally arrested on burglary and theft charges, AL.com reported.