ATLANTA (AP) — The only escaped Louisiana inmate who remained on the run following an audacious May jailbreak in which 10 men crawled through a hole behind a toilet has been found in Atlanta, the U.S. Marshals said Wednesday.
Derrick Groves was taken into custody in a house after evading authorities for nearly five months, Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Fair confirmed. Sgt. Kate Stegall, a spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police, also said Groves was in custody after a brief standoff.
Groves, 28, had been convicted of murder and was facing a possible life sentence before the jailbreak. He had the most violent criminal record of the escapees and authorities had offered a $50,000 reward for tips that lead to his recapture.
“He was hiding in a crawl space,” Fair said. “It appears he was the only one in this house and he was hidden pretty well.”
No one else was arrested, Fair said. Groves was arrested by the U.S. Marshals southeast regional fugitive task force and Atlanta Police Department SWAT team, Fair said.
The other nine escapees had been recaptured within six weeks of breaking out of the New Orleans jail on May 16, and most were found still in Louisiana.
Last escapee’s mother reacts to his capture
“I’m all messed up, I’m just trying to talk to him,” Groves’ mother, Stephanie Groves, told The Associated Press. “I’m just seeing it on the internet, I woke up to it on the internet.”
Holding back tears, she said she was concerned for her son’s safety and has wanted him to surrender peacefully. She said she does not know why he went to Atlanta and has not been in contact with him after he escaped. Her family has been followed and surveilled by law enforcement, she said.
“It’s just been a mess,” she said. “I’m just glad it’s over with.”
“Of course he was going to get caught,” she added.
The escape in New Orleans
Groves and the nine other men yanked open a faulty cell door inside the New Orleans jail, squeezed through a hole behind a toilet, scaled a barbed-wire fence and fled into the coverage of darkness. With 10 men on the lam, it was one of the largest jailbreaks in recent U.S. history.
The inmates’ absence wasn’t discovered until a morning headcount, hours after they bolted for freedom. At the scene of the crime, the cell where the men removed a toilet to sneak through a hole, they left a message. On the cell wall they drew an arrow, pointing at the gap they slipped through — above it was a graffitied message: “To Easy LoL.”
City and state officials have pointed to multiple security lapses in the jail, including ineffective cell locks and the assertion that the inmates got out when the lone guard monitoring them went to get food. But authorities remain adamant that the men also had likely had help and that the escape may have been an inside job.
A maintenance worker at the jail was arrested for allegedly helping the incarcerated men escape, by turning off the water to the toilet where a hole was cut behind for the fugitives to sneak out of. The man has denied knowingly aiding them via his lawyer, who says he was just unclogging a toilet. Another former jail employee, identified by authorities as Groves’ girlfriend, is accused of helping coordinate the escape.
Search for the fugitives
Hundreds of law enforcement officers scoured the city for the fugitives and leveraged phone records and hundreds of tips to track some of them down quickly.
At least 16 people, many of them friends and family of the escapees, have been accused of aiding the fugitives before or after the jailbreak and were arrested on felony charges. Court documents allege that those people provided food, cash, transport and shelter.
One fugitive allegedly hid out in a vacant home which his friend had been hired to repaint and was captured in Baton Rouge, more than 80 miles (129 kilometers) from New Orleans. Two others were caught after a high-speed car chase in Walker County, Texas. But most of the fugitives were found inside Orleans Parish city limits.
Antoine Massey, one of the last fugitives to be recaptured, allegedly posted photos and videos on social media while on the run.
Many of the men on the lam were originally in the New Orleans jail, awaiting sentences or trials, for alleged violent crimes including murder. Groves, the last escapee to be recaptured, had been convicted of second-degree murder in 2024 for opening fire on a family block party, killing two people and injuring others. He faces life imprisonment without parole.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson, who has largely blamed the breakout on ailing infrastructure at the jail, has faced widespread criticism from state and local officials over her handling of the escape and management of the jail.
Escapees face additional charges
The nine other men accused of breaking out of the city jail pleaded not guilty to escape charges in July, appearing via video call from the Louisiana State Penitentiary.
“Everyone is entitled to due process. But there’s a video of these detainees running out of the jail in the middle of the night. They were not heading to court hearings,” state Attorney General Liz Murrill said. “We will continue to hold everyone accountable for the escape.”
All 10 men are charged with simple escape, which is tacked on top of previous criminal counts that initially landed them in jail, according to Murrill’s office. The escape charge carries a sentence of two to five years in prison.
Groves’ attorney was present for the arraignment but did not enter a plea on his behalf, reported The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune.
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Brook reported from New Orleans.
By JEFF MARTIN and JACK BROOK
Associated Press
