6 men at large after escape from New Orleans jail, including 4 charged with murder

(NEW ORLEANS) — The reward for information leading to the arrest of the inmates who escaped from the Orleans Justice Center last week increased to $20,000 per person, FBI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp said at a press conference on Sunday.

“We have increased the reward to $10k per inmate from the FBI,” Tapp said, adding that figure to the $5,000 per inmate awarded by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as the $5,000 per inmate from Crime Stoppers that was announced at the press conference by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.

Speaking at the same event, Col. Robert Hodges, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, confirmed that three of the 10 escaped inmates had been recaptured by authorities. On Monday, a fourth man was taken back into custody, the LA State Police said.

“We’re confident at this time that we have actual intelligence on all seven of those fugitives,” he said, although he noted that it was possible some had already moved on to other states or parishes since they were last accounted for.

Four of the men at large — Corey Boyd, Lenton Vanburen, Jermaine Donald and Derrick Groves — are charged with second-degree murder, officials said.

The escaped men should be considered armed and dangerous, according to police.

In an interview with ABC News on Monday, New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said that the longer the search goes on, “the more risk is at hand.”

“We are following every lead, and we have actual leads,” Kirkpatrick said.

During Sunday night’s news conference, Hodges said the three of the men back in custody were recaptured within the first 24 hours and have since been relocated to another state facility in Louisiana.

Kendall Myles was apprehended on Friday in the French Quarter, less than three miles from the Orleans Justice Center, Louisiana State Police said. He was found hiding beneath a car in a hotel garage, according to officials. Myles is charged with attempted second-degree murder.

New surveillance footage obtained by ABC News shows two escapees walking together in New Orleans’ French Quarter around 9:58 a.m. local time on Friday. The video shows the two fugitives wearing street clothes with their heads down.

Investigators familiar with the search tell ABC News that one of the prisoners shown in the video is Myles. The other suspect, seen in the footage, is still at large.

The surveillance footage is owned by Project N.O.L.A, a community based program that operates facial recognition cameras on residential and commercial properties to combat local crimes. The organization is partnering with state and city officials to track down the escaped inmates.

The 10 inmates were discovered missing during a routine headcount at the Orleans Justice Center at approximately 8:30 a.m. local time Friday, according to Major Silas Phipps with the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office. Initially, officials said 11 had escaped, but officials didn’t realize one had just been transferred to another cell.

The inmates are believed to have escaped from the jail around 1 a.m. on Friday, officials said.

The United States Marshals, Louisiana State Police and Probation and Parole were notified by 9:30 a.m. on Friday, the sheriff’s office said. New Orleans police officials said they were notified at 10:30 a.m.

By the time Project N.O.L.A. used its facial recognition software to detect the escapees, and notify authorities, one of the two identified was able to get away.

“If we would have received notifications even one minute earlier from the sheriff’s office, we would have actually helped apprehend two subjects, not just one,” Bryan LaGarde, executive director of Project N.O.L.A, told ABC News in an interview on Sunday.

A second inmate, Robert Moody, was captured on Friday evening, according to police. More information on Moody’s capture wasn’t immediately released.

In an update late Friday, authorities announced Dkenan Dennis had been captured near Chef Menteur Highway in New Orleans.

Then, 21-year-old Gary C. Price became the fourth man captured on Monday, according to the LA State Police.

Some of the inmates began tampering with a locked cell door at 12:22 a.m. local time Friday and were seen on surveillance footage entering the cell about 20 minutes later, according to Phipps.

The 10 inmates exited the jail through a wall behind a toilet at 1:01 a.m., Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said. They then made their way off the property through a loading dock door and scaled the perimeter wall using blankets to protect themselves from the barbed wire, according to Phipps. From there, officials said they had a clear path to railroad tracks and then the interstate.

Officials said they are investigating how the breach occurred, saying the inmates had to have received help, or at least some type of tool that enabled them to escape.

“These folks that were able to get out did so because of defective locks on the cells,” Hutson said at a May 15 press conference.

The sheriff’s office showed surveillance video uncovered during their investigation into the breach that showed the inmates jarring open a sliding door on a cell, fleeing from the loading dock and running across Interstate 10. Their orange jail uniforms or orange jail-issued clothing was found abandoned in a neighborhood near I-10, authorities said

However, Huston suggested locks alone were not to blame.

“We have the indication that these detainees received assistance in their escape from inside our department,” Hutson said. “It’s almost impossible — not completely — but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help from the outside.”

Three employees have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, the sheriff’s office said.

“There’s no way people can get out of this facility without some lapse,” Hutson said. “We intend to find out exactly what happened.”

Louisiana’s governor said on Sunday night that the inmates’ escape was due to a “failure in the jail system” that “should never have happened.”

The state’s attorney general is leading the investigation into the escape, Landry said on Sunday, adding that he will be issuing executive orders to change some of the judiciary system to help expedite the trial process — alluding to the fact that if the men had already had their trials, they would not have still been in the city jail at the time of their escape.

There was “no excuse for the escape of these violent criminals,” the governor said.

Four supervisors and 36 staff members were at the jail at the time of the escape, according to officials. When the breach occurred, no deputy was physically on the pod where the inmates were housed, and a civilian employee who had been assigned to observe the pod “had actually stepped away to grab food” and was unaware they had escaped, Phipps from Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office noted.

Phipps said he did not have information on how long the civilian had stepped away.

Orleans Parish Sheriff Hutson said the incident has highlighted the urgent need for repair of the jail and more staffing. Hutson said they need $5.2 million to pay for locks alone.

Hutson asked the public to remain alert, adding the sheriff’s department is working with local, state and federal law enforcement on a “full-scale search operation.”

Kirkpatrick — the New Orleans Police Superintendent — said a “group of people” believed to be victims of the inmates were immediately removed from their homes and “taken to safety.” She appealed to witnesses of the inmates’ alleged crimes to do the same.

According to Kirkpatrick, it’s “more than likely” the inmates had help and have changed out of their jail clothes.

“We don’t want panic, but we do want people to be mindful,” she told reporters.

The sheriff called the escape “very serious and unacceptable.”

“We are launching a full investigation to determine how this escape occurred, including reviewing facility protocols, staff performance and physical security measures,” the sheriff said.

Anyone who helped the inmates escape will be held accountable, the sheriff vowed.

Hutson questioned the timing of the breach during a heated press briefing Friday evening.

“Why did it happen just right now, right in the middle, as we’re getting ready to start this sheriff’s race?” she said. “This is very suspicious. We know that they had help. We’re showing you they had help. This was coordinated. There’s much more than meets the eye.”

ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.