A prisoner who escaped Friday night from Phelps County Jail in Rolla was apprehended late Sunday afternoon in Ray County while driving an allegedly stolen vehicle. A spokesman for the FBI stated that Jonathan O’Dell was taken into custody without incident around 5 p.m. Sunday.
Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers reported that the escapee from federal prison was spotted at Highway 13 and Route D. A deputy sheriff initiated a pursuit on Bollinger Road. Sheriff Childers blocked the intersection of Bollinger Road and Route V. This location is north of Knoxville, Missouri. The suspect subsequently surrendered.
Sheriff Childers, describing it as a joint effort, expressed gratitude to the Highway Patrol troops in St. Joseph and Lee’s Summit, the Division of Drug and Crime Control, the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, Ray County Dispatch, and agents of the FBI.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Western Missouri stated that O’Dell was one of two individuals from a self-proclaimed 2nd American militia who conspired to confront the border patrol. The 33-year-old O’Dell from Warsaw was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 30 on charges related to an alleged conspiracy to murder border patrol officers. They were first arrested after a shootout with FBI agents on the eve of their planned trip to the United States-Mexico border. The charges span a 44-count federal indictment.
