A manhunt continues for Rafael McCloud, 34, who escaped Wednesday from a county jail in Mississippi where he was being held on charges including capital murder.
McCloud allegedly overpowered a guard at the Warren County Jail in Vicksburg with a makeshift weapon Wednesday morning and
fled wearing the guard’s jacket and pants, NBC News reported.
The guard’s pants were found blocks away from the jail. The guard’s keys and radio and McCloud's shoes also were found.
"Our search has included vacant homes and buildings and the residences of friends, relatives and other contacts of inmate McCloud, most of which have been throughout north Vicksburg,"
Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said, according to The Clarion-Ledger. "We continue to look anywhere that the leads may take us."
Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong urged residents of the small town near the Louisiana border to stay alert. "If you have friends and relatives who live alone, stop by and check on them," he said, according to the newspaper, which noted that a $7,500 reward is being offered for information leading to McCloud’s capture.
The search for McCloud includes K-9 and helicopter resources, CNN reported.
McCloud is accused of murdering Sharon Wilson, 69, whose body was found by ghost hunters in an abandoned hospital last June, NBC News said. Charges against McCloud include capital murder, rape, arson, and home invasion, among others.
Authorities believe McCloud and Wilson were acquaintances, and
McCloud may have done yard work for her, CBS News reported.
"He entered her home at night, held her against her will throughout the night and during that period of time sexually assaulted her," Warren County District Attorney Richard Smith Jr. said, according to CBS.
CBS said authorities believe McCloud took Wilson to the abandoned Kuhn Memorial State Hospital and killed her. Ghost hunters following a trail of blood found her body in tall brush outside the nearly two century-old building.
McCloud was indicted in January, and his trial is set to begin in June.