St. Louis prison escapee captured in Arkansas after nine-month run

CONWAY, Ark. – A man on the run after escaping from a federal prison in St. Louis last year was captured in central Arkansas earlier this week.

A representative of the U.S. Marshalls Service said Markel Hutton was taken into custody on Monday in Conway, Arkansas. He had escaped from the Bureau of Prisons in St. Louis on Nov. 3, 2023.

After his escape, investigators said U.S. Marshalls from the Eastern District of Missouri and the Eastern Arkansas Fugitive Task Force determined Hutton had likely made way to central Arkansas. Hutton was located on Aug. 19 and arrested without incident.

Hutton had been serving a 51-month sentence, just over four years, for brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime during an August 2019 carjacking.

According to FOX 2’s news partners at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch , Hutton pointed a gun at an elderly man and pulled him out of an SUV before driving away. Police say the victim parked his car near his apartment and attempted to put an anti-theft device on the steering wheel just moments before he was carjacked.

Officials said Hutton is awaiting return to the Eastern District of Missouri, where he will face additional charges related to his escape, plus serve the remainder of his term.

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