• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Fugitive couple's car found at Kentucky motel

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 August 2005, 19:19 CDT

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) - The hunt for an escaped convict and his wife who shot a guard to death outside a Tennessee courtroom, is now centered around northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio, after the couple's second getaway vehicle was found on Wednesday at a motel.

George Hyatte and Jennifer Hyatte apparently escaped capture by minutes, said Mark Gwyn, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

"We feel the couple had been there and left minutes earlier," Gwyn said. Acting on a tip, U.S. Marshals and local officers went to an EconoLodge motel in Erlanger, Ky., south of Cincinnati, and discovered the van.

The motel was evacuated and armed officers entered a motel room but found it empty.

"We believe they are still in the area," Gwyn said. "We believe we are getting closer to making an arrest."

He did not disclose what was found in the room, but added: "We believe they are still armed, we have no reason not to."

Jennifer Hyatte, a former prison nurse, opened fire on guards escorting her shackled husband from a Tennessee courthouse on Tuesday. Three bullets struck Tennessee Department of Corrections guard Wayne "Cotton" Morgan, 56, who died at a hospital.

Because blood was found in the floorboard of the vehicle in which the couple sped away from the courthouse, authorities alerted hospitals, doctors' offices and drugstores to be on the lookout for anyone seeking treatment for a gunshot wound or needing medical supplies that could be used to treat a wound.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category