Where is Francisco Starks? Inmate injured at Kentucky candle factory flees from hospital
A 44-year-old jail inmate from Kentucky is reportedly on the lam after he was rescued from a candle factory that collapsed in a deadly tornado. Francisco 'Cisco' Starks was on a work-release permit and was working at the Mayfield Consumer Products Candle Factory when a deadly tornado ripped through the small Kentucky town. More than 110 people, including Starks, were trapped in the rubble while Starks' supervising police officer Robert Daniel tragically died in the collapse.
The trapped workers comprised seven inmates including Starks, who were escorted to the Jackson Purchase Medical Center for treatment. However, soon afterward, Starks reportedly walked out of the hospital unnoticed by anyone amid the commotion of patients. The incident happened on Saturday, December 11 around 5 pm, when hospital workers became aware of Starks' absence and informed Grave County Jail about the same. Kentucky police are still on the lookout for the 44-year-old inmate, who managed to stage a daring escape taking advantage of the disaster. The candle factory collapse happened to be the second major disaster of the quad-state tornadoes, besides the Amazon wirehouse collapse in Edwardsville, Illinois.
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Starks was imprisoned at the Graves County Jail and was serving time for third-degree burglary, theft of an automobile, and receiving stolen property. He had received his work release permit last week only, which allowed low-level offenders to get temporary employment at labor jobs. It is not clear whether the six inmates other than Starks are unhurt after the factory collapse, but Starks is the only one absconding as of now.
The Graves County Jail also suffered severe damages from the devastating tornado as over 83 inmates needed urgent evacuation to other more secured facilities. Jailer George Workman noted, "The damage is structurally bad enough that I question it’ll ever be able to open again. I’ve been in law enforcement and corrections since 1986 and I’ve never seen anything like this."
Addressing the tragic incident of the candle factory collapse, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear stated, "We believe we'll lose at least dozens of those individuals" who were trapped in the factory's collapse. He added that it was the "largest loss of life in this tornado event" and that it could be "the largest loss of life in any tornado event in a single location in the state's history."
He further added, "It's heavy machinery... it's the building that's flattened. It's cars from the parking lot that are on top of it. It's huge metal drums, even ones with corrosive chemicals that were inside. It's... pretty awful to witness."
Meanwhile, a shocking video shared by candle factory worker Kyanna Parsons-Perez went viral on social media. Posted soon after the collapse, Parsons-Perez narrated her horrific experience of staying trapped under the debris for hours, before the Graves County inmates helped rescue her and others. However, it is not known whether Starks was among the inmates who lent their hands in the rescue operations.
In the 1 minute 41 seconds long video, Parsons-Perez can be heard saying, "I don't know who's watching. We got hit by a hurricane. I'm at work in Mayfield and we are trapped. Please y'all, give us some help. We are at the candle factory in Mayfield. Please, please. Y'all! Please send us some help. Somebody please send us some help, we are trapped.”
She continued, “The wall is stuck on me. Nobody can get to us, y'all, we can't move." She is heard calming down someone else before adding: “Please y'all, pray for us, get somebody to come and help us. A tornado... and the building fell. We were all in the safe shelter place. The whole building fell. We are stuck.”
Sometime later, Lou shared another short clip, which was not clearly audible, but seemed like she was rescued safely from the rubble.