Third Texas Escapee Captured

DALLAS — The third of five inmates who escaped from a Texas jail was apprehended Saturday night. Authorities were still searching for the other two, who were believed to have a hostage with them.

Brian Riley, 27, was arrested at a home in Fannin County, about 30 miles east of the jail, Grayson County Sheriff Keith Gary said. Two others were caught Friday.

“There were some folks there who were harboring Riley, and they may face charges themselves,” Gary said.

All five inmates had been jailed on various charges including assault, kidnapping and child rape, authorities said.

Two of the escapees were involved in an armed robbery Saturday, took a woman hostage and fled in stolen pickup trucks, authorities said.

The two men who robbed two people in east Texas at gunpoint were accompanied by an unidentified woman and had a variety of weapons, said Lt. John Norton of the Collin County Sheriff’s Department.

When they escaped, the men jimmied their cell door locks, crawled through the ventilation system and tunneled through a dirt floor in the basement, leaving behind wadded-up sheets and newspapers in their bunks.

They were tracked Friday to Joyce Silvius’ stables about 35 miles south of Grayson County. Jeremy Reynolds, 21, and Jerry W. Riley, 24--Brian Riley’s brother--were captured there.

Brian Riley, Bob Leach, 38, and Gerald Gantt, 45, took Silvius hostage and fled in stolen pickup trucks, authorities said.

Sometime later, Brian Riley parted from Leach and Gantt.