Four arrested in Florida courthouse escape plot, suspect still at large

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., July 17 (UPI) -- Four people have been arrested in connection to the escape of a murder suspect from a fourth-floor courtroom in South Florida, Broward County Sheriff's Office officials said Sunday.

Investigators are concentrating their efforts to find Dayonte Resiles in the South Florida area, but a nationwide alert has been issued, Sheriff Scott Israel said. Rewards totaling $20,000 have been offered for his capture

"The fact that Resiles remains at large tells me that there are others aiding and abetting in his escape," Israel said.

Laquay Stern, 18, and Winston Russell, 22, were taken into custody Saturday in Deerfield Beach, the sheriff's office announced Saturday. Two other are facing similar charges, officials said.

Israel said Stern was Resiles' girlfriend. She parked her silver BMW under a bridge next to the courthouse Friday, where she waited with Russell.

According to Stern's arrest report, the escape was planned and included a rental car, a change of clothes, including a police uniform, boots and a gun belt. Police said two 17-year-old accomplices, who were juveniles, sat in the courtroom Friday to signal when the getaway car was in place at a pre-determined location near the courthouse, the Sun Sentinel reported.

The report said Resiles was holding a handcuff key when he got inside the waiting rental car.

Resiles bolted from the fourth-floor courtroom of Broward Judge Raag Singhal.

According to the arrest report, Russell drove and dropped Resiles at an apartment on Oakland Park Boulevard, investigators said.

Resiles, who has an arrest record dating back to when he was 12, is charged with the 2014 murder of Jill Halliburton Su in the master bathroom of her Davie home, located in a gated community. Halliburton Su was found half dressed, bound and gagged in her bathroom. A knife at the scene contained Resiles' DNA. He was arrested 12 days after her body was discovered.