N.C. manhunt continues for convicted murderer who escaped on way to hospital

Aug. 14 (UPI) -- North Carolina officials are warning citizens to be vigilant and take precautions as a convicted murderer remains at large for the second day after escaping on the way to a hospital.

Ramon Alston, 30, escaped at around 7 a.m. local time by jumping from a transport van that had arrived at University of North Carolina's Gastroenterology Hillsborough campus in Orange County east of Greensboro.

He was last seen wearing a gray T-shirt, brown pants and white New Balance tennis shoes. His handcuffs are connected to a belly chain.

As of Wednesday, his location is still unknown and officials believe Alston moved north of the hospital.

A $25,000 has been offered for information that leads to his recapture. On Wednesday, the reward was supplemented with a $10,000 contribution by the U.S. Marshals Service to now bring the reward to a $35,000 amount.

"He's unpredictable," Keith Acree, a spokesperson for the state's Department of Adult Correction, said during Wednesday's press update."We don't know what he's going to do, so he should certainly probably be considered dangerous."

Alston is currently serving a life sentence at Bertie Correctional Institution after he was convicted of first-degree murder in 2018 for the Christmas Day killing of 1-year-old Maleah Williams three years prior who was struck by a passing bullet while playing with toys.

"People make rash decisions at a time like this; he's already made one very large rash decision this morning," Acree added.

At least 114 local, state and federal law enforcement officers kept searching a 760-acre area through Tuesday night into the next day.

An "intensive ground search" would continue Wednesday and an "exhaustive investigative search is happening in the rest of the world outside of that immediate vicinity," Kirby Saunders, director of Orange County Emergency Services, said.

Also on Wednesday, Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood told reporters that Alston's family has been cooperative, and that he went to school with Alston's father and has known the suspect since birth.

"He was a troubled child, and he has been involved in criminal activity since he was a juvenile," the sheriff said, calling Alston "extremely cagey" and "extremely dangerous."