Authorities search for the last of 3 inmates who escaped from a Louisiana jail

Authorities hunted Saturday for the last of three inmates who escaped from a Louisiana jail after removing concrete blocks from a deteriorating wall.

OPELOUSAS, La. — Authorities hunted Saturday for the last of three inmates who escaped from a Louisiana jail after removing concrete blocks from a deteriorating wall.

“We would prefer that he surrender himself peaceably,” St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz said in a statement, “but we will not rest until he is captured.”

Detectives and SWAT officers were following leads Saturday in pursuit of 24-year-old Keith Eli, who remained at large three days after he and two other inmates escaped the parish jail in southwestern Louisiana, said Maj. Mark LeBlanc, a spokesman for the sheriff. Eli had been jailed on a charge of second-degree murder.

One of the escapees, 24-year-old Johnathan Jevon Joseph, was captured Friday following a brief chase. LeBlanc said investigators following a tip found Joseph, who was jailed on charges of rape and other crimes, hiding out at a home. Joseph ran to a nearby storage shed, where he surrendered after being cornered, LeBlanc said.

The third escapee, 26-year-old Joseph Allen Harrington, killed himself with a hunting rifle Thursday after police found him at a home and used a loudspeaker to urge him to come out, said Port Barre Police Chief Deon Boudreaux. Before his escape, Harrington had faced several felony charges, including home invasion.