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| Slippery Texas Escapee Caught Again |
| By Austin American-Statesman |
| Published: 06/06/2002 |
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A two-time escapee accused of killing a homeless man in Austin has been arrested again, this time in Iowa City. Joshua Daniel Johannes, 24, slipped out of the Travis County Correctional Complex at Del Valle on Oct. 21 and the Jefferson Davis Parish Jail in Louisiana on Nov. 9. On Sunday afternoon, when the Iowa City police called to check on the Travis County warrant, they were warned of Johannes' slippery history. Within a few hours, he had been shipped off to a federal holding facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said Roger Wade, spokesman for the Travis County sheriff's office. 'Not only because he had a federal warrant, but also because it was a safer place to keep him,' Wade said. Johannes was nabbed in Iowa after his case was featured on the television show 'America's Most Wanted.' Within 24 hours, a vigilant TV watcher had spotted him eating a sandwich at a convenience store in Iowa City. 'He was just at a Kum & Go, and somebody recognized him from the show,' said Sgt. Doug Hart of the Iowa City Police Department. 'We sent an officer up to investigate. He did attempt to lie about it, but our officer did a good job and ascertained it was him.' Iowa City jailers didn't take any chances. 'We were watching him pretty closely,' Hart said. Johannes is accused of killing 50-year-old Joseph Edward Costas at an Austin laundromat in November 2000. He was being treated for schizophrenia when he escaped from Del Valle. It took Johannes three tries to make it, according to officials. The first time, Austin police caught him trying to crawl out of an interrogation room by poking out the ceiling tiles. Moments later, detectives found him attempting to break the locks on the interrogation room door. On Oct. 21, Johannes and another inmate, Troy Lee Bailey, pushed through a recreation yard fence, climbed from an outdoor toilet onto the jail's roof and dropped to freedom. Bailey was recaptured in Austin two days later, but Johannes made his way to Louisiana, where he was caught on Nov. 3. He escaped from the Louisiana jail by crawling through the space around some plumbing fixtures onto the roof and sliding down a makeshift rope. Johannes, also known as Anthony Mark Carter, is being held on federal charges of interstate flight to avoid prosecution. A hearing will determine when he will be extradited to Texas to face charges of intentional murder, failure to identify, possession of drug paraphernalia and escape. 'That's just a small sample of the charges he faces across the country,' Wade said. Johannes may also face auto theft charges in Houston and escape charges in Louisiana. |
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