Update: Boyes has been captured. Click here for updates.
Original story continues below:
KANAWHA COUNTY, WV (WOWK) — Police are continuing to search for a convicted felon who has escaped from the South Central Regional Jail.
The West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety say that the ongoing investigation indicates Todd Wayne Boyes, 44 obtained khaki pants and a dark green or grey zip-up jacket which he wore to escape by posing as a civilian or trusty.
It is believed he exited the facility under this guise at around 5:50 AM on Wednesday, October 25th 2017.
Three formal, end-of-shift head counts failed to alert jail staff to Boyes’ disappearance, as did two informal, overnight counts. The ongoing investigation is focused on whether the procedure for these counts was followed properly.
WVDMAPS say that the procedure involves the lockdown of inmates and the matching of inmates to booking and Offender Information System records, among other measures.
The formal head count conducted at 7 PM on Thursday, October 26th. 2017 revealed that Boyes was missing. During the resulting investigation, a review of the facility’s security video yielded footage of Boyes leaving the facility the previous morning.
Given Boyes’ criminal record, he is to be considered armed and dangerous. There is no indication that Boyes obtained any sort of weapon from the facility during his escape. If sighted, he is not to be approached but instead law enforcement is to be contacted.
Information regarding the escape remain preliminary, and the exact circumstances of the escape remain under investigation.
Officials at both the Regional Jail Authority and the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety consider the incident to be a grave and unacceptable breach of their core duty to protect their fellow West Virginians. They say that they intend to address the episode and the results of the ongoing investigation with the utmost seriousness.
