WIRT ESCAPEES CAUGHT IN MISSISSIPPI - Arrests Made Without Incident

(04/20/2001)
Four men who escaped from the Wirt County jail on March 31st have been captured in the Biloxi, Mississippi area, according to Wirt County Sheriff A. C. Cheuvront. Officers from Jackson, Mississippi Sheriff's Department entered a residence and took the men into custody about 9:30 p.m. Thursday night.

Jackson County, Mississippi Sheriff Mike Byrd initiated the capture based upon information provided by the Wirt County Sheriff's Department. The arrests were made without injury. Also recovered was a 1992 Ford Explorer stolen from J & S Auto in Elizabeth.

Deputy L. J. Peck said the officials had a constant source of information about the escapees coming into their office. "We had traced them successfully over the past week," he said.

The four men from the Wirt-Wood area are Nathaniel Wood, 21, Eric R. Cottrell, 22, Charles C. Conley,18 and John Edward Griswold, 25.

Details of how the escape happened are to be released, according to Peck. Some sources indicated the escape was made for notoriety, although Conley and Cottrell had not been convicted of the charges against them and was in the process of making a plea bargin. "None of them improved their situation," he said.