Eureka Police apprehended an escaped prisoner Sunday afternoon (Feb. 18), ending a six-day search for the inmate, who had walked away from a work site in southeastern Missouri.
Jacob Dylan Martin, 22, of St. Clair was taken into custody after a short foot chase at I-44 near Six Flags Road, police reported.
Martin had walked away from a Missouri Department of Transportation work site Feb. 13, about 18 miles south of Patton. He was on work release from Potosi Correctional Center, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Eureka Police were notified by St. Louis County Dispatch at 3:16 p.m. Sunday that someone matching Martin’s description had driven a blue-green Honda Accord onto the parking lot at McDonald’s, 5699 Fox Creek Road, the report said.
At about 3:40 p.m., officers spotted the Honda and initiated a traffic stop on the McDonald’s parking lot. Martin got out of the car on the driver’s side and fled toward I-44, according to the report.
The officers chased Martin for about 150 yards before he stopped running near the westbound lanes of I-44 and was taken into custody without further incident, the report said.
Martin is serving a five-year sentence for two counts of first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle, second-degree burglary, and stealing in Franklin County as well as a concurrent three-year sentence for attempted first-degree tampering. He has previous convictions for driving while intoxicated, shoplifting and resisting arrest.
Martin was imprisoned by the Missouri Department of Corrections on Sept. 30, 2016, and was transferred to Jefferson City Correctional Center on Feb. 23, 2017. He was transferred to a minimum-security unit in Potosi Correctional Center for work release Sept. 26, 2017.
Tuesday (Feb. 20), Eureka Police Capt. David Wilson said Martin had been returned to the custody of the Potosi Correctional Center.