Search for escaped Tennessee inmate Curtis Watson stretches into second day
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A manhunt for an escaped Tennessee inmate stretched into a second day Thursday after a prison administrator was found dead Wednesday morning.
Curtis Ray Watson, 44, escaped the West Tennessee State Penitentiary on Wednesday.
Watson is now a suspect in the deat of Debra Johnson, 64, a corrections administrator at the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Johnson was found dead in her residence at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Tony Parker said. She lived in one of the many on-site residences at the prison facility.
Watson left the area on a tractor, which was found about a mile and a half away, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch said at a Wednesday news conference.
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Early Thursday morning, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation tweeted an update releasing two new mugshots of Watson in case he altered the appearance of his facial hair.
The two images were taken in 2011 and 2013.
On Thursday, special agents and forensic scientists continued their search for Watson in Henning, about 60 miles north of Memphis.
Mississippi Gov. Bill Lee announced Thursday a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
"Make no mistake. We need Tennesseans to be vigilant."
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation raised the amount to $32,500.
Law enforcement set up checkpoints in Henning.
Tabitha Mayfield, a cashier at Fort Pillow Grocery and Bait Shop, had to drive through three checkpoints to get to work. Her shift began at 4 a.m.
"Three checkpoints within maybe about 2 miles," Mayfield said.
"It does make me feel safer, because it's dark. It's dark on these back roads, and you don't know, and you cannot see."
Officers checked her front and back seats at each checkpoint.
"I just hope they find him. I mean, it's scary," Mayfield said. "We're in the middle of nowhere, we're like, 'How did he get away from here so fast?' We're all trying to piece it together."
Shannon Jones, who lives about 6 miles away from the prison, spent her morning handing out free food to law enforcement officers from her home.
Jones' husband worked at the prison for the last 23 years and her daughter started working there two years ago.
"Prison guards are everywhere; we are all on standby," Jones said. "You've got to be close-knit when you've got a rapist murderer on the run. We're all afraid, but we're looking. We're watching out for each other."
She said she hasn't heard anything for hours, but all she or anyone else can do is be vigilant and look out for one another.
"You worry, especially with a daughter that works down there," Jones said. "But you pray."
Watson was serving a 15-year sentence on an especially aggravated kidnapping conviction. He worked at the prison as a farm laborer.
The TBI said Watson "should be considered extremely dangerous." They asked residents to keep an eye out for Watson and not to approach if they see him, but to call 911.
Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Cassandra Stephenson on Twitter: @CStephenson731
