Escaped Iowa Murderer Caught [PICS]
 

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/US/11/17...ugshots.ap.jpg

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- One of two convicted murderers who escaped this week from the Iowa State Penitentiary was captured Thursday in Illinois, authorities said.

Martin Moon, 34, was caught in Chester, Illinois, near the Menard State Penitentiary in southern Illinois, Gov. Tom Vilsack said. Prison officials noticed a car parked near the prison and informed local police, who captured Moon after a brief chase.

A search continued for Robert Joseph Legendre, 27. He and Moon broke out of the prison in Fort Madison on Monday night. (Watch why guard towers are sometimes unmanned -- 1:12)

Authorities said they used a homemade grappling hook to scale an unguarded section of the prison's limestone walls and somehow got around a wire that is supposed to activate an alarm when touched.

Police in Randolph County, Illinois, said Moon was found sleeping in a car near Chester, about 50 miles southeast of St. Louis. When an officer stopped to run on a check on the car's license plates, Moon drove off. After a short chase, Moon jumped out of the car and ran into the woods, where he was caught, police said.

Moon crashed the car into a tree, Vilsack said.

Moon was convicted of first-degree murder in 2000 for shooting his roommate, Kevin Dickson, during a drug deal in 1999. Legendre had been transferred from a prison in Nevada, where he was convicted in the fatal beating of a cab driver..

An investigation of the escape has begun, Vilsack said.

"When the job is not done, people are going to be held accountable and responsible," Vilsack said. "There were a series of mistakes that were made."

Moon must appear in court in Illinois and faces extradition to Iowa.

jesus, glad to hear they're caught

movie material

Did they have an inside help from the prison? I think so.