CAPTURED: Escaped Mississippi Co., MO inmate back in custody

MISSISSIPPI COUNTY, MO (KFVS) - The search for an escaped inmate from the Mississippi County Detention Center is over.

After a short foot pursuit, authorities reportedly took Edward Lusk, 49, back in custody around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. One deputy did sustain minor injuries in the pursuit.

Luck has been charged with escape from custody (a class D felony).

According to the original probable cause statement, at around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 24, the jail administrator was notified by a chief deputy that an inmate had gotten into the crawl space above the F-Pod and was trying to escape.

The chief deputy said he and Sheriff Keith Moore were at the detention center trying to find the inmate.

When the jail administrator arrived, he said he went into the F-Pod and the chief deputy told him the inmate was Lusk and he somehow opened the utility door downstairs in the F-Pod and managed to climb up the pipes, getting into the crawl space.

According to the jail administrator, Sheriff Moore told him he could hear someone yelling.

He told the sheriff they could go through the door at the top of the stairs in the F-Pod where the water pipes were at and get into the crawl space where Lusk might be.

The jail administrator said he then went and got a ladder and the sheriff and himself climbed up through the duct work to check and see if they could see Lusk.

According to the probable cause statement, they checked the whole area from F-Pod to E-Pod and they could not find Lusk.

The jail administrator said they noticed a wall that was not all the way to the roof because there were air conditioning ducts and water pipes going over the wall.

He said he and the sheriff checked that area and if Lusk went over the wall, he had access to the outside which was on top of the jail's roof.

The jail administrator said he sent back out to the F-Pod and told a chief deputy that someone needed to go up the ladder in the control room and check to see if the door leading to the roof was unlocked.

According to court documents, the chief deputy got a phone call stating someone had called in and saw Lusk running down South Fifth Street in Charleston, Mo.

From there, the sheriff and jail administrator got in patrol vehicles and drove out to South Fifth Street to try and find Lusk. When the couldn't find him, they called dispatch and asked to who had seen him.

According to the probable cause, they were told a woman called Charleston DPS and said her child and  his friend were approached by a white male wearing a white t-shirt, orange pants and orange shoes on a bicycle and he asked the teenage boys where the nearest corn field was so he could get out of the area.

The probable cause states Charleston DPS told the jail administrator the teens were walking on South Thorn Street to go to Charleston High School to go to a school dance.

The jail administrator said he told the sheriff and deputies that Lusk was last seen on South Thorn Street in Charleston heading to Interstate 57.

He said they went to South Thorn and Highway UU at the overpass searching the area for Lusk. Deputies also got onto I-57 and searched the interstate for Lusk.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol and Charleston DPS also helped in searching for Lusk.

According to the jail administrator, they searched the area for a few hours but could not find Lusk, so all departments went back to the detention center and they searched the entire building again.

He said they went up the ladder in the control room and found the door open leading to the outside on top of the roof and one of the troopers said they could see a footprint on the awning over the doors that go inside the detention center.

While they were out searching for Lusk, the jail administrator said he had a dispatcher review the camera system to see how Lusk opened the door to the utility room.

According to the probable cause statement, the dispatcher found that at around 7:21 a.m. on Saturday a corrections officer was serving breakfast. She had the key that opens the food port. Also on that key ring was the key that opened the utility doors in all the pods. The dispatcher reported seeing the key ring lying on the food cart.

According to the probable cause, they could see on the camera the corrections officer leave the keys on the food cart and walk off, leaving the car by F-Pod. You could then see Lusk stick his hand out of the food port and grab the keys off the food cart, open one of the utility doors on the bottom floor and then put the keys back on the food cart.

According to Sheriff Keith Moore, that corrections officer has been fired.

The dispatcher reviewed the camera system further and noticed another inmate holding a blanket up by the utility door, then Lusk go into the utility room.

The other inmate was identified as Skyler Douglas, 23, of East Prairie, Mo. He is now facing a charge of aiding escape from custody.

Douglas was in jail for receiving stolen property.

Edward Lusk, from Bloomfield, was being held on a warrant from Stoddard County. He was charged with 19 felonies through Stoddard County for burglary, arson and property damage.

According to the probable cause statement, he was recently told he was looking at about 85 years in prison.

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