A convicted murderer who escaped custody in North Carolina and fled more than 100 miles away has been captured, authorities announced, ending a three-day manhunt involving local and federal law enforcement agencies.
Ramone Alston, 30, was taken into custody without incident shortly before 2 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 16, at a hotel in Kannapolis, N.C., a Charlotte suburb, the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction said in a press release. The investigation involved FBI Charlotte SWAT agents, Kannapolis Police and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police.
The agency said that after Alston’s capture, a female acquaintance identified as Jacobia Crisp was arrested in Alamance County and charged with felony aiding and abetting a fugitive. It’s unclear if she has entered a plea or retained an attorney to speak on her behalf.
According to the agency, Alston will be charged with felony escape from state prison, and is being taken to a “high security unit” in the state prison system. There, he will continue serving his life sentence for first-degree murder and await court appearances for his escape charges, they said.
Alston escaped from corrections officers on Tuesday, Aug. 13, at around 7 a.m., just after arriving at UNC Hospitals Hillsborough Campus for an appointment. He “had freed himself from leg restraints and, still in handcuffs, jumped out and ran into adjacent woods,” the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction said in a separate release.
The hospital is located about 110 miles away from Kannapolis, N.C., where Alston was ultimately captured. The agency previously announced a combined $50,000 reward for information leading to his location and capture.
Alston is serving a life sentence at Bertie Correctional Institution in Windsor, N.C., after being convicted of first-degree murder for the 2015 shooting death of a 1-year-old child in Chapel Hill, N.C., the agency said.
According to local station WTVD, the victim, Maleah Williams, was shot in the head outside her godparents’ home on Christmas Day in 2015 and later died at a local hospital. The girl’s mother, Tylena Williams, told the station that Maleah was among several children playing outside when a man inside a car began shooting.
The outlet reported that Alston, and another man, Pierre Je Bron Moore, pleaded guilty to their roles in the murder in 2019. Alston was handed down a life sentence while Moore received 28 to 34 years, per WTVD.
“I am grateful to our DAC staff and thankful for the support and effort from hundreds of local, state and federal public safety officers who helped in the search and investigation that returned Alston safely to custody,” Secretary Todd Ishee said in the release. “This was an incredible collaborative effort of many people and agencies.”
