Sex offender who scaled fence and escaped Alabama jail nine days ago nabbed with missing 16-year-old girl after car chase
A registered sex offender has been arrested after he scaled a fence and escaped an Alabama prison last week. A 16-year-old girl who went missing the day after he fled was also apprehended with him.
John Kaleb Gillespie, 30, and teenager Peyton Ledlow, were both arrested after a dramatic chase and car crash in Birmingham on Monday.
Multiple officers were seen in a police drone footage surrounding a car with their guns drawn.
Gillespie was pulled out of the vehicle and handcuffed before being taken into custody. He was subsequently charged with resisting arrest and attempting to elude police. Meanwhile, Ledlow was charged with resisting arrest.
On October 27, Gillespie and used a bed sheet to climb over a jail wall, according to sheriff's officials in Morgan County.
The teenager had ties with Gillespie, said the authorities, and left her home in Moulton the day after his escape.
At about 5 am on Monday, a Hoover police officer spotted a man and a teen in a vehicle outside a hotel. He approached the driver and engaged in conversation with him before the vehicle sped away.
The car was then spotted on Insterstate 459 before it crashed. Both Gillespie and Ledlow attempted to exit the vehicle and run out, but police were able to capture the teenager while Gillespie escaped.
Using an aerial drone, police tracked the man and found him walking near an industrial building and getting into a car. They subsequently apprehended him and took him in custody.
Gillespie was being held in the Hoover City Jail following his arrest. Meanwhile, Ledlow was transferred to family court owing to her age.
Gillespie, who reportedly has a violent criminal history, tried to run over an Alabama state trooper in Lawrence County in November 2018. At the time, officers were firing on his truck. He was ultimately captured at a Decatur house following a five-hour standoff with officers.
Among other crimes, the 30-year-old had pleaded guilty to second-degree rape involving sex with an underage female in 2009.