Derrick Groves, Latest New Orleans Jailbreak Escapee, Captured: NPR

Derrick Groves, the last of ten men who escaped from a New Orleans prison in May, was captured Wednesday in the crawl space of an Atlanta home.

The escapees, ranging in age from their teens to their early 40s, escaped from the Orleans Parish Justice Center in the early hours of May 16 by climbing through a hole in the wall behind a toilet, scaling a fence and crossing a highway.

By the time authorities discovered their disappearance during a routine morning head count, they were long gone, leaving behind a smiling face and several provocative messages – including “To easy LoL” – scrawled on the bathroom wall.

Three of the escapees were recaptured in New Orleans later that day, and all but two had been arrested by the end of May. The ninth detainee, Antoine Massey, was apprehended six weeks after his escape at the end of June.

That left only Groves on the run. The 28-year-old convicted killer eluded authorities for months, despite efforts by multiple agencies to find him.

Louisiana State Police Superintendent Robert Hodges told reporters Wednesday that the task force investigating the jailbreak learned in early October that Groves was likely in the Atlanta area. They traced him to a particular residence using “information gathered through multiple search warrants and other investigative means.”

Police, U.S. Marshals and a SWAT team arrived at the southwest Atlanta home Thursday to execute the arrest warrants and ultimately arrested Groves after what police described as a brief standoff.

“We deployed a number of gas canisters to help him move around the house…he moved to the basement of the house,” Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Kelley Collier said at the scene. “Shortly thereafter, the Clayton County K-9 was deployed to the crawl space of the location and found him in that crawl space.”

Officials declined to say what brought Groves to this particular home or how long he had been there. But Collier said no one else was inside at the time of his arrest.

Video of Groves’ arrest, shared by the Atlanta Police Department, shows Groves blowing a kiss to the camera as he is helped into the back of a patrol vehicle.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry applauded the news of the capture of the 10th and final escapee on social media.

“You picked the wrong state,” Landry wrote. “Thank you to our incredible law enforcement leaders at the federal, state and local levels who worked tirelessly to put each of these men where they belong: BEHIND BARS.”

What happens next?

Groves was convicted last October and sentenced to life in prison on two counts of murder in connection with a double shooting on Mardi Gras Day 2018.

He was also convicted of two counts of attempted murder and a federal firearms charge, for which he was awaiting sentencing at the Orleans Parish Justice Center at the time of the escape.

Groves, like the other nine escapees, was also charged with simple escape. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said a hearing was scheduled for Thursday at which he could choose to waive extradition or the state would begin proceedings to bring him back.

“He will be brought to justice on these charges as soon as we get him back from Georgia,” Murrill said at Wednesday’s news conference, adding that he would eventually join the other escapees at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Murrill said her office is exploring the possibility of upgrading Grove’s charges to aggravated escape, in light of materials found in the Atlanta home, which she said “include weapons and drugs.”

She also said she expects Groves to be prosecuted in Georgia, “and possibly by the federal government.”

“He has a lot of problems and a lot to answer for, both to the state of Louisiana and the state of Georgia,” Murrill said, adding that the manhunt was costly and frightening for prosecutor staff, victims and witnesses in the cases that put Groves behind bars.

“It’s a very disturbing thing to have someone like that…so today is a very good day.”

Who else is facing charges?

Murrill vowed that anyone who might have helped Groves would be arrested and prosecuted.

More than a dozen people were arrested for helping the escapees, both in prison and after they were released.

They include a prison employee who told investigators he turned off the water in the cell after one of the inmates “threatened to hit him” (he claims he was unclogging the toilet and was unaware of the escape plans), as well as another man held at the same prison who faces 10 counts of “simple escape.”

In the weeks following the escape, authorities charged 11 other people with “accessory after the fact” for alleged actions that included contacting detainees by phone before and after their escape, transporting them outside, and providing some with food and money.

Another twist occurred in June, when a former correctional center employee — and Groves’ girlfriend — was arrested on felony charges of conspiracy to commit simple escape, “in connection with the recent escape of several inmates.”

Murrill’s office said Darriana Burton, Groves’ “on-again, off-again” girlfriend of three years, was an employee of the sheriff’s office from August 2022 to March 2023, when she was fired – but not charged – for bringing contraband into the jail.

The Associated Press, citing a police affidavit for Burton’s arrest, reported that Groves video called Burton on a prison-issued iPad two days before the escape, and she helped him speak with an unidentified man in a vague conversation that “appeared to coordinate communication on other, unmonitored lines.” A judge set his bail at $2.5 million.

Louisiana politicians say there are others to blame for jailbreaking, pointing fingers at each other and broader systemic failures.

Gov. Landry, a Republican who has championed a tough-on-crime agenda, has blamed progressive politics and ordered multiple investigations into New Orleans’ criminal justice system. Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson took responsibility for the escape, but also placed blame on a lack of resources, ranging from faulty locks to understaffing, as well as the escapees’ network of accomplices.

In July, another inmate at the same prison was mistakenly released due to what authorities say was a clerical error stemming from two similar last names. Khalil Bryan was captured in August after a month-long manhunt, and two deputies were fired following the incident. That same month, Hutson announced that the facility had secured $15 million to make safety and security improvements.