Dec. 5 (UPI) -- A convicted killer used a cellmate's name to bond out of an Oklahoma jail and made it 500 miles before he was recaptured in St. Louis, U.S. Marshals said.
Authorities said fugitive Patrick "Notty" Martaez Walker was arrested Tuesday at a motel after being on the run for five days. He had help from three women along the way, they said.
Walker, 34, was considered armed and dangerous when he was at large, but was taken into custody without incident. A female accomplice was also arrested.
The mistake in releasing Walker has raised a lot of questions for Corrections Department Director Joe Allbaugh. Officials say Walker stole the identification card of his cellmate after threatening to harm him if he didn't comply. He signed his own name on bail forms, but the bondsman didn't catch it until he'd already left.
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"We deeply appreciate the dogged, tireless efforts of the U.S. marshals to take Patrick Walker into custody," Allbaugh said. "I'm looking forward to a full report explaining how one of our most dangerous inmates could bond out of a county jail. We can't have this happen again in any of the 76 other counties of this state."
Payne County investigator Brandon Myers said in court documents Walker was released on a $15,000 bond last Thursday night.
Walker is serving a life sentence after being convicted of first-degree murder for shooting a former friend in Oklahoma City. He was transferred to the maximum-security Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Okla., after assaulting a guard at another facility.
The day he escaped, he was at the Payne County jail for a court hearing on the assault charge.
