All four escaped prisoners in custody

by Ethan Nahté

All four escaped convicts from the McCurtain County Jail (Idabel, Oklahoma) have now been captured and are back in custody after nearly two weeks, escaping the evening of Feb. 3.

On Tuesday, Feb. 15, officials with the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office said they had Justin Michael Hughes cornered near Idabel. Hughes was captured Wednesday morning, Feb. 16, just before 10 a.m. after an attempted burglary off of Old 21 in Oklahoma hiding inside a barn. An additional arrest was made in the case after a woman got out of a car with Hughes.

According to the Facebook page for the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office “…three responsibly armed citizens…located him on their property and notified MCSO of the situation.”

Later that evening, Jerome Lynn Rutherford Jr. was taken into custody in Sherman, Texas. The US Marshals Service caught up to Rutherford and he was taken into custody without incident.

At least 12 others were arrested during the manhunt, including a jailer; a construction worker’s assistant, who is the brother of the first convict captured, Kolby Russell Watson; and several others who law enforcement believe aided the escapees in some manner.

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