Woman accused of helping NC murderer escape custody could face prison herself
A woman accused of helping a convicted murderer escape custody last week made her first appearance in front of a judge Monday in an Orange County courtroom.
Roughly a dozen Orange County sheriff’s deputies lined up around the exits on two sides of the courtroom. A competing number of TV news cameras and media personnel stood in the aisles.
District Court Judge Todd Roper set a Sept. 13 court date Monday for Jacobia Shina Crisp, 32, of Burlington on felony charges of aiding and abetting a fugitive and harboring an escapee.
If found guilty on both charges, Crisp could face more than five years in prison.
Crisp is accused of helping Ramone Alston, 30, who escaped from his prison guards early Tuesday morning in the parking lot of UNC Hospitals in Hillsborough.
She declined to answer media questions after leaving the courtroom Monday.
Three-day manhunt
Alston led local, state and federal law enforcement on a three-day manhunt before being arrested around 2 a.m. Friday at a hotel near Interstate 85 in Kannapolis, about 110 miles southwest of Hillsborough.
Alston was charged with felony escape and with assault on a law enforcement official, according to court records. He was transferred to the Granville Correctional Institution, where he is being housed in the state’s highest security unit, state Department of Adult Correction officials said.
Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood has said he does not know the relationship between Alston and Crisp, but that it developed via telecommunications over several months.
Crisp was released Friday from the Alamance County Detention Center on a $30,000 secured bond. She is being represented by the Orange County public defender’s office.
State Department of Adult Correction and law enforcement officials are still reviewing the information that led to Alston’s capture to determine whether anyone qualified for the $50,000 reward being offered, DAC spokesman Keith Acree said Monday.
A date for his first appearance in court has not yet been set.
How did Alston escape from state officers?
Alston, who is serving a life sentence for the Christmas Day killing of 14-month-old Maleah Williams in 2015, was previously housed in Bertie Correctional Institution.
Two armed corrections officials loaded Alston into a medical transport van in Bertie County around 4 a.m. Tuesday for the 154-mile trip to an appointment at UNC Hospitals.
Alston was restrained during the trip by leg shackles and handcuffs attached via a bellychain to a junction box at his waist. He was able to remove the leg shackles on the ride to Hillsborough, officials have said.
At 7 a.m., the van arrived at the hospital, and as the officers opened the door, Alston jumped out, knocking one officer to the ground. He ran into the woods, still wearing the handcuffs. The officers immediately called the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for help, Blackwood has said.
More than 335 officers from 19 agencies searched a five-mile radius around the hospital during the initial, 33-hour ground search for Alston, officials have said. FBI agents, Charlotte SWAT officers, and Kannapolis and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers aided in his capture.
A Department of Adult Correction team will review Alston’s escape and the law enforcement response to it over the next few weeks, according to DAC Secretary Todd Ishee. The investigation also will look at whether he committed other crimes while on the run or had additional accomplices, Orange County Sheriff’s officials said.
There is no official estimate yet of the cost to catch Alston. The officers who transported Alston to the hospital have been reassigned to other duties during the investigation.
This story was originally published August 19, 2024 at 3:03 PM.
