By JEFF MARTIN and JACK BROOK Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — A monthslong search for the only Louisiana inmate still on the run after an audacious May jailbreak ended Wednesday when authorities say they found him hiding in a basement crawl space under an Atlanta home, bringing the last of the 10 escapees into custody.
Derrick Groves, 28, was convicted of murder and facing a possible life sentence before the inmates escaped through a hole behind a toilet in a New Orleans jail. He had the most violent criminal record of the escapees and authorities offered a $50,000 reward for tips leading to his recapture.
A SWAT team spent multiple hours searching house for Groves after obtaining a search warrant, Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Fair said.
“They couldn’t find him, they had to deploy gas multiple times into the house and basement,” Fair said. “Based on how long it took a seasoned, well-trained SWAT team to get him out, he had planned to hide for a while.”
Groves was eventually located by a police dog that was sent in to get him, Atlanta police Deputy Chief Kelley Collier said.
Shirtless, shoeless and shackled at his wrists and ankles, Groves blew a kiss then grinned at someone filming him being led into a police car, in video provided by the Atlanta Police Department.
The tip leading to his capture came in via New Orleans Crimestoppers, an anonymous tip program, Fair said. Groves was the only person in the house and no one else was arrested.
The home’s garage door could be seen collapsed inward Wednesday afternoon, as officers and vehicles blocked off access to the scene. Atop a sloping lawn and surrounded by trees, the brick house is in a neighborhood beside Tyler Perry Studios, one of the country’s largest movie production facilities.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry applauded law enforcement for putting all 10 escapees “back where they belong: BEHIND BARS,” in a post on X.
It was not immediately known whether Groves has a lawyer who could be reached for comment Wednesday.
The other nine escapees had been recaptured within six weeks of breaking out of the May 16 breakout, and most were found still in Louisiana.
Escapee’s mother reacts to his capture
“I’m all messed up, I’m just trying to talk to him,” Groves’ mother, Stephanie Groves, who spoke to The Associated Press after learning about the arrest online.
Fighting tears, she said she had urged her son to surrender peacefully and didn’t know why he went to Atlanta. She said her family had been followed and watched by law enforcement since the breakout.
“It’s just been a mess,” she said. “I’m just glad it’s over with.”
“Of course he was going to get caught,” she added.
The jailbreak in New Orleans
Groves and the nine other men yanked open a faulty cell door inside the New Orleans jail, squeezed through a hole behind a toilet, scaled a barbed-wire fence and fled into the coverage of darkness. With 10 men on the lam, it was one of the largest jailbreaks in recent U.S. history.
The inmates’ absence wasn’t discovered until a morning headcount, hours after they bolted for freedom. At the scene of the crime, the cell where the men removed a toilet to sneak through a hole, they left a message. On the cell wall they drew an arrow, pointing at the gap they slipped through — above it was a graffitied message: “To Easy LoL.”
City and state officials have pointed to multiple security lapses in the jail, including ineffective cell locks and the assertion that the inmates got out when the lone guard monitoring them went to get food. But authorities remain adamant that the men also had likely had help and that the escape may have been an inside job.
A maintenance worker at the jail was arrested for allegedly helping the incarcerated men escape, by turning off the water to the toilet where a hole was cut behind for the fugitives to sneak out of. The man has denied knowingly aiding them via his lawyer, who says he was just unclogging a toilet. Another former jail employee, identified by authorities as Groves’ girlfriend, is accused of helping coordinate the escape.
Search for the fugitives
Hundreds of law enforcement officers scoured the city for the fugitives and leveraged phone records and hundreds of tips to track some of them down quickly.
At least 16 people, many of them friends and family of the escapees, have been accused of aiding the fugitives before or after the jailbreak and were arrested on felony charges. Court documents allege that those people provided food, cash, transport and shelter.
One fugitive allegedly hid out in a vacant home which his friend had been hired to repaint and was captured in Baton Rouge, more than 80 miles (129 kilometers) from New Orleans. Two others were caught after a high-speed car chase in Walker County, Texas. But most of the fugitives were found inside Orleans Parish city limits.
Antoine Massey, one of the last fugitives to be recaptured, allegedly posted photos and videos on social media while on the run.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson, who has largely blamed the breakout on ailing infrastructure at the jail, has faced widespread criticism from state and local officials over her handling of the escape and management of the jail.
Escapees face additional charges
Many of the men were originally in the New Orleans jail, awaiting sentences or trials, for alleged violent crimes including murder. Groves had been convicted of second-degree murder in 2024 for opening fire on a family block party on Mardi Gras day, killing two people and injuring others. He faces life imprisonment without parole.
The nine other men accused of breaking out of the city jail pleaded not guilty to escape charges in July, appearing via video call from the Louisiana State Penitentiary.
“Everyone is entitled to due process. But there’s a video of these detainees running out of the jail in the middle of the night. They were not heading to court hearings,” state Attorney General Liz Murrill said.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams hailed the end of the search and said prosecutors “will pursue every available legal avenue” against Groves.
All 10 men are charged with simple escape, which is tacked on top of previous criminal counts that initially landed them in jail, according to Murrill’s office. The escape charge carries a sentence of two to five years in prison.
Groves’ attorney was present for the arraignment but did not enter a plea on his behalf, reported The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune.
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Brook reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writers Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta and Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.