Wednesday: After a five-month hunt for a prison break fugitive in June, state authorities captured Derrick Groves in the crawl space underneath a home in southwest Atlanta. Groves was the final of 10 inmates who escaped from the Orleans Parish Justice Center in May, in one of Louisiana’s largest jailbreaks. His capture resulted from a massive multi-agency search over multiple states.
Senior escape plan shows serious security flaws
The one hundred prisoners were able to flee on May 16 by being able to pull a toilet out of the wall and cutting metal bars to form a hole and break out of the cells. They pushed through the opening, climbed a barbed-wire fence, and moved into the night, making crude messages such as “To Easy LOL” and pointing an arrow to the direction they escaped from.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said the escape was a “perfect storm” of staffing problems and architectural issues that allowed the escape to occur. Investigators found that the inmates were assisted by several persons, including an ex-jail employee and Darriana Burton, Groves’ girlfriend, who was arrested, charged, and convicted for aiding in the breakout.
The guard of the prison aided the escape operation
At least 16 people have been indicted for helping the fugitives before or after they had escaped, providing food, money, transportation, or a place to stay to the fugitive criminals. A maintenance worker was also arrested for allegedly turning off the water to the cell toilet during the escape, which shows the vast network of collaborators there to make this unprecedented jailbreak possible. The investigation resulted in the discovery of an intricate network of support that allowed the inmates to stay at large for months, exposing serious security lapses in the correctional system.
Multiple case histories of a convicted killer with a violent past
Groves was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder after being convicted in 2024 for opening fire during a Mardi Gras block party that left two of them dead and several others wounded. He was also found guilty of attempted murder, federal firearm charges, and two counts of manslaughter in another case.
The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office labeled Groves a “cold-blooded killer” with a violent, sick past. District Attorney Jason Williams said prosecutors will “hold Groves and his co-conspirators accountable” by using “all of the legal tools at our disposal,” a warning of further charges to come.
Suspicious stranger ties manhunt to end
Deputy US Marshal Brian Fair said the last straw was a tip that the investigators used to trail Groves to the Atlanta area, where a special SWAT team outfitted with gas gear waited for hours before locating him in his basement lair. Video by Atlanta police has Groves shirtless, shoeless, and shackled, blowing a kiss and grinning as officers walked him to a patrol car.
Fair pointed out that the knowledge of how long it took the professionally trained SWAT team to find him, Groves had obviously intended to lay low for a long time. The other nine escapees were recaptured within six weeks after the May breakout and have already pleaded not guilty to charges of escaping. Governor Jeff Landry of Louisiana congratulated the operation, writing on social media that “All 10 escapees back where they belong: BEHIND BARS.”
Arrest of Derrick Groves marks an end to an important part of Louisiana law enforcement’s past and the conclusion of a manhunt that highlighted some deep-seated weaknesses in security. This escape, however, had a far-reaching effect, demonstrated by the numerous network of informants, and the prosecution says it is only starting to prosecute him for more offenses, meaning we could be hearing about this man for months.