Authorities in Louisiana announced on Friday, June 27 that they apprehended one of the inmates who escaped from the Orleans Justice Center. Ten people escaped from the jail on May 16, meaning one escapee is still on the run.
The Louisiana State Police said in a statement that 33-year-old Antoine Massey was located and arrested at a residence in New Orleans. He will be transported to a state correctional facility “outside of the area,” the police said, and additional charges may be forthcoming.
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When he escaped, Massey was charged with domestic abuse involving strangulation and theft of a motor vehicle. St. Tammany Parish officials said they also issued arrest warrants for second-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping, domestic violence and violation of a protective order as part of an investigation into a November 2024 incident, WDSU reported.
“Law Enforcement personnel from various local, state and federal agencies will continue to work around the clock to locate the one remaining fugitive,” Louisiana State Police said.
The initial escape
Authorities said the ten inmates fled the jail by yanking open a faulty cell door inside Orleans Parish and squeezing through a hole behind a toilet before scaling a barbed-wire fence. Officials discovered the men escaped during a morning headcount, hours later.
At the scene, authorities found someone drew an arrow around the whole, as well as the words “To Easy LoL.”
Multiple people have been arrested for allegedly helping the former fugitives, among them a maintenance worker at the jail whos accused of turing off the water to the toilet where the hole was, according to the Associated Press. The maintenance worker’s lawyer denied that their client knowingly aided the escapees.
Details of Massey’s arrest
At a press conference on Friday, June 27, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said she received a tip that morning and told other law enforcement officials, who arrested Massey in the afternoon.
New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said he walked out of the home “peacefully” and surrendered. The AP quoted Louisiana State Police Superintendent Robert Hodges as saying authorities are still investigating how Massey was able to stay at the residence, which was just 2 miles away from the jail.
Hodges said “It’s pretty obvious” that to “remain a fugitive that long, he had assistance, he had help.”
Authorities are still searching for Derrick Groves. Groves, WDSU reported, was convicted in October 2024 of killing Jamar Robinson and Byron Jackson on Mardi Gras Day in 2018.
Along with help they may have gotten on the outside, several lapses in the Orleans Parish Justice Center’s security may also have contributed to the escape. NBC News reported that the sheriff has come under fire for “falling short” on federally mandated improvements at the jail such as regular security checks.
