SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas (AP) — A capital murder suspect and a convicted drug offender whose escape from a Texas jail left residents in the largely rural area on edge are back in lockup after being captured in a barn.
Brian Allen Tucker, who is awaiting a capital murder trial, was returned to the Hopkins County Jail on Thursday along with John Marlin King. It's the same jail in Sulphur Springs, about 75 miles northeast of Dallas, that authorities say the two inmates fled on Tuesday.
Their capture came after federal, state and local officers raided a barn where the men were hiding in Cooper, 20 miles northwest of Sulphur Springs.
Hopkins County sheriff's Sgt. Brad Cummings said authorities had received dozens of reports from people who thought they had seen one or both of the fugitives.
In the end, an attempt to pawn jewelry left in a vehicle the men allegedly stole in Sulphur Springs is what led authorities to their Cooper hideout, Delta County Sheriff Ricky Smith said. A Cooper pawn shop clerk's report led officers to the person with the jewelry, who revealed Tucker and King's whereabouts, Smith said.
Officers also arrested Charles Ensey, the owner of the house where the barn was located. He was in the Delta County Jail in Cooper on Thursday. Smith said he was charged with two counts of hindering arrest.
