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CNN Sunday Morning

Manhunt Under Way in Louisiana for 2 Escaped Prisoners

Aired October 19, 2003 - 07:06   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.


SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: And here in the U.S., a manhunt is underway in Livingston Parrish, Louisiana, after a jail break by two of the area's most infamous men. One convicted of manslaughter for killing a man, the other an accused child killer.
We get the details of the escape and the search from reporter Ken Pastorek of CNN affiliate WBRZ.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEN PASTOREK, WBRZ CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The law is out in full force. Helicopters with special infrared technology took the skies in hopes of finding two escapees. No ballgames tonight, but area ball fields were lit to give officers an upper hand. Daytime searches yielded nothing.

Deputies tracked areas the two escapees may have traveled. Along highway 190, the dogs followed a scent.

SHERRIE WILLIOE GRAVES, LIVINGSTON, LOUISIANA: (Unintelligible) went to a creek. We think they may have split up. And at this time, we have perimeters set up within about a six or eight square mile area with canine searches, aerial searches, and four wheel searches.

PASTOREK: The two escapees are accused killers, two of Livingston Parrish's most notorious criminals. Darrell Burnlo (ph) will soon stand trial for the murder of his 12-year old stepdaughter Courteney Le Blanc.

And a Livingston Parrish jury just convicted John Priest of the bludgeoning death of a Walker man. At this junior food mart in Livingston, an officer stands guard, protecting the ex-girlfriend of John Priest. She testified against Priest and asked that we not identify her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now, I'm stressing. I'm very, very nervous. And I just wished that he would be quiet right now. Please, John, turn yourself in, do something.

PASTOREK: Sheriff Willie Graves says the two men escaped from this breezeway during exercise period this morning. It happened between 9:00 and 10:00. The men pried the fence up and crawled under. They then made a break for this fence. They threw up a ladder that was just lying around and climbed over the fence and escaped.

GRAVES: I just have to deal with the warden and find out if they knew where these letters came from, where should they have been, whether they're being used for something around here. Obviously, you know, you shouldn't have letters laying around. So I just wanting to find out (unintelligible) here, what they were doing here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 19, 2003 - 07:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: And here in the U.S., a manhunt is underway in Livingston Parrish, Louisiana, after a jail break by two of the area's most infamous men. One convicted of manslaughter for killing a man, the other an accused child killer.
We get the details of the escape and the search from reporter Ken Pastorek of CNN affiliate WBRZ.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEN PASTOREK, WBRZ CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The law is out in full force. Helicopters with special infrared technology took the skies in hopes of finding two escapees. No ballgames tonight, but area ball fields were lit to give officers an upper hand. Daytime searches yielded nothing.

Deputies tracked areas the two escapees may have traveled. Along highway 190, the dogs followed a scent.

SHERRIE WILLIOE GRAVES, LIVINGSTON, LOUISIANA: (Unintelligible) went to a creek. We think they may have split up. And at this time, we have perimeters set up within about a six or eight square mile area with canine searches, aerial searches, and four wheel searches.

PASTOREK: The two escapees are accused killers, two of Livingston Parrish's most notorious criminals. Darrell Burnlo (ph) will soon stand trial for the murder of his 12-year old stepdaughter Courteney Le Blanc.

And a Livingston Parrish jury just convicted John Priest of the bludgeoning death of a Walker man. At this junior food mart in Livingston, an officer stands guard, protecting the ex-girlfriend of John Priest. She testified against Priest and asked that we not identify her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now, I'm stressing. I'm very, very nervous. And I just wished that he would be quiet right now. Please, John, turn yourself in, do something.

PASTOREK: Sheriff Willie Graves says the two men escaped from this breezeway during exercise period this morning. It happened between 9:00 and 10:00. The men pried the fence up and crawled under. They then made a break for this fence. They threw up a ladder that was just lying around and climbed over the fence and escaped.

GRAVES: I just have to deal with the warden and find out if they knew where these letters came from, where should they have been, whether they're being used for something around here. Obviously, you know, you shouldn't have letters laying around. So I just wanting to find out (unintelligible) here, what they were doing here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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