A Georgia man has been arrested for allegedly stealing the blue Dodge Challenger used to help four inmates escape from a Bibb County jail.
Jakaylen Williams, 24, was in possession of the vehicle when police found it on Friday, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. He has been charged with four counts of aiding or permitting another to escape lawful custody or confinement, theft by receiving stolen property, and a probation violation. He was also arrested on warrants for aggravated assault, criminal trespass, and battery family violence in an unrelated case.
Williams is currently being held without bond for the current charges. He allegedly stole the vehicle from an Enterprise rental car business, The Macon Telegraph reported.
Another man, Christian Demond Williams (no relation), died Tuesday morning at a hospital in Macon, Georgia, hospital after shooting himself when U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force arrived at an apartment in Macon to question him about the four escaped inmates, the Associated Press reported, citing Bibb County authorities.
Investigators had received a tip that Christian had information about the escapees, and when they arrived at the apartment, a bullet fired through the door of the apartment, according to law enforcement. A SWAT team was called, and a woman inside the apartment told officers that Christian had shot himself, and showed authorities where he was. Christian was wounded, but still alive, and was taken to the hospital in critical condition, where he died.
No officers fired their guns, Bibb County Sheriff David Davis told reporters. Christian’s death was ruled a suicide.
Christian turned out to be a fugitive suspected of murder, and had been missing since March 5, the night before he was supposed to be tried for murder. Christian was accused of shooting to death a man at a convenience store in 2021.
The four inmates Christian was to be questioned about broke out of the Bibb County Detention Center on the morning of October 16 through a damaged day room window and a cut fence, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post at the time. The escape occurred around 3:00 a.m., with a blue Dodge Challenger pulling up outside the jail and transporting the inmates away.
That Dodge Challenger was recovered on Friday, the Sheriff’s office said. The vehicle was located in the parking lot of a Biomat USA – a facility that collects blood plasma donations. The building is less than two miles from the jail.
Sheriff Davis said in the post that he “appreciates the tips and every lead that we have received is being followed up on.”
The escaped inmates include 52-year-old Joey Fournier, a white male with gray hair and blue eyes who was being held at the detention center for alleged murder. The other three inmates are 24-year-old Marc Kerry Anderson, a black man being held for aggravated assault; 37-year-old Johnifer Dernard Barnwell, a black man being detained for the United States Marshals; and 29-year-old Chavis Demaryo Stokes, a black man being held for possession of a firearm and drug trafficking.
The Sheriff’s Office asked anyone with information about the possible location of these inmates to call the FBI’s tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI or the United States Marshal Service at 1-877-WANTED2. Tips may also be submitted online at tips.fbi.gov or through the USMS Tips app.