Staff Writer

An inmate who escaped from the Union County Detention Center Monday was captured this morning.

Lee Anthony Evans, 48, is being held in the Union County Jail on escape charges. He was serving a six-month sentence for failure to pay child support when he escaped.

Chief Sam White of the Union Public Safety Department said officers converged on a wooded area between Barron Street and Bermuda Run after Evans tried to take a car from his home early this morning.

Investigator Mickey Parker and Cpl.Scott Farr were on their way to meet other officers when they spotted Evans walking along Rice Avenue Extension near the old Taco Bell restaurant.

“They circled around and saw him attempt to go into Bi-Lo and arrested him,” White said. “We're very pleased that he's in jail and the community can rest at ease he's not out bothering anybody else.”

Evans was wearing street clothes over his detention center uniform, White said. Officers will try to determine where he got the clothing.

Detention center director Niel McKeown acknowledged the help law enforcment and the community had provided during the search for Evans.

“I appreciate the support of my employees during this manhunt,” he said. “Roy Brackins (K-9 officer) came out with the bloodhound; he's always dedicated to the community, always ready to assist law enforcement with any type of emergency.”

Law enforcement officers were called to 106 Pinedale Ave. around 4 this morning when Evans' wife, Barbara, said he tried to take her car. She told officers that she had gone out to crank her car before going to work when Evans appeared and asked her to "get him away from there."

She said she refused and yelled for her daughter to call the police. Mrs. Evans said her husband told her to shut up or he would kill her, then pulled up his shirt, revealing a large knife.

Evans came around the car, got into the driver's seat and tried to drive off. Mrs. Evans said she stood in the doorway of the car, trying to stop Evans, and he began to drag her alongside the vehicle. Mrs. Evans said her daughter saw the struggle, got in the back seat of the car and began to choke Evans in an attempt to make him let go of her mother.

The car continued to roll backwards until it struck a fence in the yard across the road from the Evans' home.

Evans fled the scene,

Brackins brought his tracking dog to the scene, but Evans could not be found.

Evans left the detention center Monday morning around 5:15 during a food delivery. McKeown said Evans exited through a door and scaled a fence. At the time of the escape McKeown said Evans, a kitchen worker, may have taken a knife with him.

Theft and vandalism

According to a sheriff's office report, someone spray-painted a stop sign at the end of Senate Street in Santuc and the back wall of the Santuck Fire Department. The damage was reported Monday to Sgt. Dee Haney and is estimated at $600.

On 1243 Riley Road, a victim told Deputy Thom McAbee Monday that someone damaged two heating and air units belonging to D&D Specialties. Copper coils were taken from both units. Damage was estimated at $7,000.