HOUSTON -- Police searched Sunday night for two Louisiana prison escapees who apparently floated across the Mississippi River to freedom, then kidnapped two women in separate incidents and fled into Texas.
James Colvin, 32, and Danny Weeks, 33, who fled the Louisiana state prison in Angola late Saturday, were said to be armed with .38-caliber pistols and considered dangerous.
A third inmate may have drowned in the Mississippi near the prison north of Baton Rouge during the escape attempt, Louisiana prison officials said.
Houston police detective Vernon West said the men took a woman hostage in Alexandria, La., freed her in Houston, then kidnapped a second woman in Houston and fled in her black sports car.
The kidnapped woman, whose name was not available, was said to be fair complexioned with long brown hair and wearing shorts.
Colvin, serving an 80-year term for armed robbery, was described as standing 5 feet 7 with blond hair and blue eyes and wearing a rolled-up black T-shirt showing a tattoo on his right arm.
Weeks, serving a life term plus 99 years for second-degree murder and armed robbery, was described as 6 feet and 175 pounds with blondish-brown hair and tattoos on his left arm and chest.
Both men were described as 'career criminals with extremely violent backgrounds,' West said.
Police were questioning Sunday night the Louisiana woman freed in Houston.
'Apparently they were just using her for transporation,' West said.
Louisiana State Penitentiary Warden Frank Blackburn said the escapees were discovered missing about 9 p.m. Saturday.
'They went across the (prison) farm and into the river,' Blackburn said. 'They went across on a log. The case team found the log and where they came out on the other side.'
The two stole a truck near Morganza, La., between 3 and 6 a.m. Sunday, then abducted a woman in Alexandria later Sunday morning.
Colvin and Weeks escaped with Robert Downs, 50, of Kansas City, who was serving a 198-year term for armed robbery and as a habitual felon. Downs, who suffered from a heart condition, may have drowned during the escape, Blackburn said.
'From what we hear, we may still be looking in the river for Mr. Downs,' Blackburn said. 'He may have gone in and not come out.'
