SALINE CO., Ark. – Saline County deputies said Monday they recaptured an inmate who escaped from the county detention center a day prior.
Just hours before, the Saline County Sheriff’s Office announced investigator’s believed escapee Wuanya Smith had left the area, with department officials saying they had reached this conclusion after what was described as an extended search with multiple agencies, along with interviews and review of records.
Instead, officers said they were advised shortly after 9 a.m. that Smith was staying at a home in Little Rock. Just after 9:30 a.m., officers captured Smith at the home, along with two other people who were arrested on charges related to Smith being harbored at the home.
Smith escaped from the Saline County Detention Center 10:30 a.m. Sunday, four days after his arrest. He was being held for extradition to Nebraska on a second-degree murder warrant.
During a press conference Monday afternoon, Saline County Sheriff Rodney Wright said that Smith was seen on a security camera Sunday morning scaling a 12-foot razor wife fence at the jail facility, Wright said Smith then scaled an 8-foot barbed-wire fence and was out of the facility within 45 seconds.
The sheriff noted that detention officers tried to capture Smith before he left the facility but that the inmate disappeared into the woods.
After his capture, Smith was found with injuries from the escape, which required 25 staples in his leg at a local hospital.
Wright added that Smith is now in an isolated facility and will remain in isolation until he is extradited back to Nebraska. Officials also thanked the community for their patience during this ordeal.