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CNN Live At Daybreak

Escapee Surrenders

Aired October 14, 2003 - 06:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They got him. Hugo Selenski, the accused killer who shimmied down some bed sheets to freedom, is back behind bars. Oddly enough, his lawyer called police and said come and get him, he wants to surrender. Selenski was found at his home.
For more on this, to Wilkes-Barr, Pennsylvania. We have Deborah Feyerick on the phone.

Tell us more about this -- Deborah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

What happened is Hugo Selenski called his lawyer. His lawyer called the state troopers. And then, within five minutes, Hugo Selenski was in custody.

Authorities picked him at his home. It's the same home where police this summer found two bodies buried in a shallow grave. They had also found remains of burned bones, all of that tied up in trash bags.

Selenski was in prison in connection with those charges. He escaped Friday, and it seems as if it was pretty well thought out. He tied 12 bed sheets together. Then, during a free time period, he and another cellmate went into a different cell. They popped out a window; then threw 12 bed sheets down. They shimmied seven stories from really what was a maximum security floor. Then, they used a mattress that they had originally tossed out to scale the barbed wire.

Now, the cellmate did not make it. He fell during the attempted escape. He is now in critical condition.

The whole prison right now is under investigation. The warden is bringing in consultants and engineers. There are a lot of outstanding questions. For example, this prison was built to accommodate 250 prisoners. It accommodates twice that many. There is no security fence around the perimeter of this facility, which is one reason Selenski was able to just walk away.

And finally, when he did walk away, he was not wearing the standard issued green prison jumpsuit, but a white T-shirt and gray sweatpants, which is the exercise uniform. Right now, officials are thinking perhaps that's not the best wear that they should have in the evenings.

All of this is under investigation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Boy, you're not kidding, and that you can even open a window in a prison cell or in a prison is amazing to me.

I want to talk more about where they found this guy. He actually went home. Is that the same place where they dug up those bodies?

FEYERICK: Exactly. That's exactly where they dug up the bodies.

And, again, one of the big questions: How was it that he was able to slip into the home? Officials would not say whether or not the house was or was not under 24-hour surveillance. They got a tip yesterday that Selenski may have been inside that house.

So, they sent over a couple of troopers. The girlfriend answered the door. She would not let authorities in to search the premises. That is different from past visits, where she had let authorities inside the house. And it was really a couple of hours after that that Selenski turned himself in.

COSTELLO: Very strange. Deborah Feyerick live on the phone from Wilkes-Barr, Pennsylvania this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired October 14, 2003 - 06:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They got him. Hugo Selenski, the accused killer who shimmied down some bed sheets to freedom, is back behind bars. Oddly enough, his lawyer called police and said come and get him, he wants to surrender. Selenski was found at his home.
For more on this, to Wilkes-Barr, Pennsylvania. We have Deborah Feyerick on the phone.

Tell us more about this -- Deborah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

What happened is Hugo Selenski called his lawyer. His lawyer called the state troopers. And then, within five minutes, Hugo Selenski was in custody.

Authorities picked him at his home. It's the same home where police this summer found two bodies buried in a shallow grave. They had also found remains of burned bones, all of that tied up in trash bags.

Selenski was in prison in connection with those charges. He escaped Friday, and it seems as if it was pretty well thought out. He tied 12 bed sheets together. Then, during a free time period, he and another cellmate went into a different cell. They popped out a window; then threw 12 bed sheets down. They shimmied seven stories from really what was a maximum security floor. Then, they used a mattress that they had originally tossed out to scale the barbed wire.

Now, the cellmate did not make it. He fell during the attempted escape. He is now in critical condition.

The whole prison right now is under investigation. The warden is bringing in consultants and engineers. There are a lot of outstanding questions. For example, this prison was built to accommodate 250 prisoners. It accommodates twice that many. There is no security fence around the perimeter of this facility, which is one reason Selenski was able to just walk away.

And finally, when he did walk away, he was not wearing the standard issued green prison jumpsuit, but a white T-shirt and gray sweatpants, which is the exercise uniform. Right now, officials are thinking perhaps that's not the best wear that they should have in the evenings.

All of this is under investigation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Boy, you're not kidding, and that you can even open a window in a prison cell or in a prison is amazing to me.

I want to talk more about where they found this guy. He actually went home. Is that the same place where they dug up those bodies?

FEYERICK: Exactly. That's exactly where they dug up the bodies.

And, again, one of the big questions: How was it that he was able to slip into the home? Officials would not say whether or not the house was or was not under 24-hour surveillance. They got a tip yesterday that Selenski may have been inside that house.

So, they sent over a couple of troopers. The girlfriend answered the door. She would not let authorities in to search the premises. That is different from past visits, where she had let authorities inside the house. And it was really a couple of hours after that that Selenski turned himself in.

COSTELLO: Very strange. Deborah Feyerick live on the phone from Wilkes-Barr, Pennsylvania this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.