Derrick Groves, escaped New Orleans inmate, captured after Atlanta standoff, police say

The last of the 10 inmates who escaped from the Orléans parish justice center in May was captured Wednesday in southwest Atlanta after a brief standoff, according to the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Derrick Groves’ arrest marks the end of a months-long, multi-agency manhunt that began after he and nine other inmates escaped from the Orleans Parish Facility on May 16, 2025.

Groves was arrested at a home on Honeysuckle Lane following a coordinated operation involving Crimestoppers Greater New Orleans, the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Louisiana State Police, New Orleans Police Department, Atlanta Police Department and other agencies. Orleans conducted an extensive investigation that ultimately ended in Atlanta.

After a SWAT team deployed a number of gas canisters, law enforcement found Groves in the home’s crawl space, an Atlanta Police Department spokesperson said. He was alone in the house at the time and was taken into custody without incident.

In video provided by the Atlanta Police Department, Groves is seen smiling and blowing a kiss as officers placed him in the back of a patrol vehicle.

Investigators did not say how long Groves had been at the home or what his relationship was to the home’s owner. Authorities are working to find out how he got to Atlanta after his escape.

Louisiana Authorities Respond to Derrick Groves Arrest

“Groves’ escape represents a serious breach of public safety and a historic failure in prison security. His capture brings long-awaited calm to the victims, their families, the witnesses who testified, the assistant district attorneys who prosecuted him, and the people of New Orleans who were rightly concerned that a convicted violent offender had escaped so easily and evaded justice for so long,” said the New Orleans District Attorney Jason. » Rogers Williams said in a statement. “We will use every legal avenue available to ensure Derrick Groves is held accountable for every crime he committed and every consequence he sought to avoid.”

Williams added that collaboration between local, state and federal authorities was essential to locating Groves and safely taking him into custody.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement that Groves would face charges related to the escape.

“I will ensure that he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Murrill said.

New Orleans Jailbreak

On May 16, Groves and nine other men escaped from the Orleans Justice Center by fleeing through a hole behind a toilet, sparking an elaborate nationwide manhunt. Within 24 hours, three escapees were found and captured by law enforcement, while several others were returned to custody a few weeks later.

In July, Dkenan Dennis, Gary Price, Robert Moody, Kendell Myles, Corey Boyd, Lenton VanBuren, Jermaine Donald, Antoine Massey and Leo Tate pleaded not guilty to charges of simple escape.

Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson told CBS News in an exclusive interview earlier this year, prison staff and design flaws played a major role in the escape.

Sheriff Hutson said the Orleans Parish Justice Center jail, built in 2015, was poorly constructed from the start.

“It has major design flaws that make it unsafe for those who are housed here and that make it unsafe for those who work here,” Hutson said. “And I included the locks and other mechanisms that I don’t want to talk about on camera that pose security concerns. But we talked about them and we alerted everyone in the system.”

Darriana Burton, a former prison employee who allegedly had a relationship with Groves while he was incarcerated, is accused of helping him coordinate his escape. Authorities believe Burton arranged phone calls that evaded the prison’s surveillance system. She is one of at least 16 people, including many family members of the escapees, who face charges for providing transportation, food, shelter and money to the fugitives.

Who is Derrick Groves?

According to court records, Groves, nicknamed “Woo,” dropped out of school in the ninth grade and sold heroin in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward for years. The FBI began monitoring his social media while he was still a teenager, and Groves pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in 2019.

Groves has been in prison since at least 2019, following his involvement in four murders in 18 months.

In October 2024, a jury found Groves guilty of second-degree murder for using an assault rifle to fire dozens of bullets at a family-run Mardi Gras block party.

Byron Jackson, 21, and Jamar Robinson, 26, were killed and several others were injured. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, but administrative delays have kept him in prison for years instead of a more secure correctional facility.

Groves later pleaded guilty to manslaughter in two separate shootings, according to the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office.