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| Couple caught in Calif. say they are not Miss. fugitives |
| By The Clarion-Ledger |
| Published: 12/22/2003 |
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The saga involving escaped murderer Larry Hentz and his wife, Elizabeth, got even stranger last Monday. When the two people identified as the couple appeared before a judge in Superior Court in San Diego, "they denied they're the people sought," said Superior Court Clerk Lori Brown of San Diego. For that reason, an identity hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 29. Corrections officials are sending fingerprints and photographs to San Diego officials for that hearing. On Nov. 17, Larry Hentz - serving a life sentence as a habitual offender for crimes, including a 1982 murder - escaped from the State Penitentiary at Parchman, where he used a hacksaw and wire cutters his wife allegedly smuggled in to him during an October visit. Authorities say the couple concealed their identities in their cross-country trip, using stolen license tags and dying their hair red, but rather than use an alias, they used the wife's real name to check in at the Motel 6 in Mission Hills, just outside San Diego. Two weeks ago, the San Diego Violent Crimes Task Force apprehended a pair they identified as the couple at that Motel 6. Elizabeth Hentz was quoted as telling the arresting officers that they had planned to cross the Mexican border the next day. Last Monday, authorities pointed out the paradox of the couple denying their identities after using the wife's real name. "That is ironic, is it not?" said Suzanne Singletary, director of communications for the Mississippi Department of Corrections. "It's unexplainable." If the pair decides to fight extradition, Mississippi officials have vowed to extradite the couple. The investigation is continuing into how Larry Hentz managed to go undetected for seven hours after sawing a bar off his cell window and cutting holes in two perimeter fences at the Parchman prison. So far, 11 corrections officials face disciplinary action for failure to follow policies and procedures. Two officers resigned, including one who admitted she fell asleep when he escaped. Authorities are still examining why Parchman officials did not bar Elizabeth Hentz from visiting her husband in prison, despite the fact she was indicted in March with her husband for attempting to smuggle a hacksaw blade and other materials to him at East Mississippi Correctional Facility, where he had been transferred. She had previously been barred for attempting to smuggle a gun to her husband. Former Corrections Commission Robert Johnson has said permitting her to visit Larry Hentz in prison would have been a gross violation of corrections policy. John Holt of Oxford - a former federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent who hass built cases against Larry Hentz - said he's not surprised the pair arrested are insisting they're somebody else: "That's a trick they use in federal court. Then they have to have an identity hearing." |
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