Kevin Leon Cross, 24, was arrested about 12:45 at a Hampton Hill Road home east of Bennington after numerous officers from several agencies descended on the home. Cross and two other inmates escaped from the Bryan County Jail Feb. 11 when they jumped a jailer.
Bryan County Sheriff Bill Sturch said investigators had been getting bits of information on Cross for the past few days that developed into a positive lead Wednesday evening.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol turned loose its tracking dogs who picked up a scent, according to Sturch, and Bryan County and OHP tactical teams deployed. OHP aircraft also were utilized.
“They deployed the SWAT teams around the house and the helicopter above lit the place up,” Sturch said. “They said through a speaker ‘Kevin Cross, come out with your hands up.'
“Cross went out the back window right into the arms of the SWAT team. There was no place for him to go.”
Also, three women were arrested in Durant who are suspected of helping Cross. According to Sturch, two have since been released, but reports will be submitted to the district attorney's office for possible charges of harboring a fugitive. Cross' mother, Lisa Jeanette Russell AKA Williams or Cross, 42, remains in jail for suspicion of aiding her son, Sturch said.
Details of how Cross was helped have not been released, but Sturch said Cross was brought food.
Authorities said Cross was arrested at the home of an elderly man who is a family associate, but he is not expected to be charged due to his age.
Investigators interviewed Cross before taking him to a state prison. He had already been sentenced to 10 years in prison on a feloniously pointing a firearm charge.
Sturch said Cross had been on the run and living in the woods until about two days ago.
“Basically, when he left here (escaped), he went east, where as the other two went north,” Sturch said. “He got on a bicycle and rode to the Bokchito area and spent the night and went on to Bennington the next night.”
According to Sturch, Cross burglarized a residence and stole clothes, leaving his jail clothes behind.
After this morning's arrest, officers found a .22 caliber rifle beside the bed where Cross was sleeping.
“He didn't say where he got it but it was loaded,” Sturch said. “Fortunately for him, he didn't try to use it.”
Cross and his half brother, Gary Wayne Olsen Jr., 21, were charged in September with first-degree murder for the death of Scotty Dean Sheffield, 22. Authorities said Sheffield was beaten and shot. His body was recovered near the Blue River east of Durant.
After the charges were filed, an intense manhunt began for the brothers and they were captured in Mexico later that month. Olsen has been held in an out of county facility.
The arrest was the result of a multi-agency investigation by several agencies, including the sheriff's office, U.S. Marshals Service, Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Durant Police Department.
Sturch said U.S. Marshals from Texas and Oklahoma have been involved since the night of the escape. Also, several local officers are deputized as U.S. Marshals.
The escape has prompted an investigation of the jail by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. One jailer was fired for violating policy by going in a cell area by himself when the inmates were not locked down. The other inmates who escaped, David Winfield Scott, 27, and Justin Reynolds, 23, were caught that evening, according to authorities.
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