Escaped Texas inmates back in custody after manhunt

BONHAM, Texas - A pair of inmates who escaped from the Fannin County Jail, near the Red River, are now back in custody.

Raymond Ross and Ramon Perez escaped on Saturday night. One was caught in Oklahoma and the other was found just a few miles away from where he escaped.

Perez turned himself in to authorities in Durant, Oklahoma, via phone Wednesday morning, according to the county.

Perez is in custody at the Bryan County Sheriff's Office.

The Fannin County Sheriff's Office said it received reports of sightings of Ross Wednesday morning.

He was spotted in a neighborhood in Bonham and surveillance video caught him roaming the neighborhood.

He tried to flag down a ride, but the driver called 911.

That led to a street-by-street search and Bonham ISD put schools on "lock out" status, meaning all students stayed in the building and no visitors were allowed.

Jhoana Avila called 911 after seeing Ross on her doorbell camera just after 7 a.m. Wednesday. 

"I could see the face tattoos and the neck tattoos as well," Avila said.

The video shows Ross walk across her driveway and duck behind a truck. 

Avila said her mother had just left for work less than 10 minutes before. 

"The door was unlocked. My younger brother was inside. I was asleep. He could have easily gone inside and did anything," she said.

The Fannin County Office of Emergency Management released a photo from a security camera in Bonham, near West 10th.

A few hours after the photo was released, the county announced that Ross was taken into custody at a Bonham apartment following a four-day manhunt.

"As they were getting ready to leave, they noticed there were two residences they hadn’t searched all day because they were occupied," Fannin County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Frank Deater said.

Earlier in the day, investigators were tipped off Ross had been using a stolen phone. 

The phone’s last pinged location was the same apartment where the sheriff's office said Ross was found hiding under a bed. 

The arrest took place just feet away from the mobile command center Fannin County authorities set up at the housing authority. 

"Yes, the elephant in the room. It was basically right across the street," Deater said.

It’s still unclear if Ross was receiving any help.

Investigators were on scene interviewing the people from the apartment where Ross was found.

Ross had been on the run since Saturday evening, when the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office said he and his cell mate, Perez, hatched a plan to escape the Fannin County Jail’s south annex.

"They got out of their cell, got into the inner side of the inner walls, were able to make their way up into the attic, and then found their way to the outer part of the building," Deater explained. "We were able to kick their way through the ceiling, part of the outer part of the building, and escaped that way."

There’s an ongoing investigation on the exact details of how the inmates escaped. 

At the south annex, there isn’t a barbed wire fence around the building, so once they got out through the ceiling, they ran into the woods. 

In the meantime, the jail plans to reevaluate their security checks. 

A sigh of relief was felt over Fannin County with both inmates back in custody, now facing additional charges.

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Ross was in custody for evading arrest with a motor vehicle, drug possession and for possessing a firearm as a felon.

Perez was in custody for aggravated assault of a child.