Two convicted murderers put on uniforms for corrections officers and left an Arkansas prison during a shift change, officials said Saturday as they searched for the men.
The men, Jeffrey Grinder, 32, and Calvin Adams, 39, escaped from the Cummins Unit prison here on Friday, an official said, and more than three hours passed before the authorities realized they were missing. Both men were serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The uniforms the inmates wore are made in the prison. Video surveillance shows that the men put them on in the prison library after the 6 p.m. head count and walked out of the prison during a shift change less than 20 minutes later. The men drove away in a sedan that had been left for them.
Grinder has relatives in southern Missouri, and state patrol officers have been told the escapees may be in the West Plains-Thayer area.