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John Modie: Murderer Escapes From Prison In Nelsonville, Ohio

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 01:55 PST, Mar 28, 2016

Convicted murderer John Modie, 58, escaped from the Hocking Unit of the Southeastern Correctional Complex in Nelsonville, Ohio. Modie, who was also convicted on robbery charges, had previously escaped from the Cuyahoga County Jail. He escaped some time after the 11 p.m. head count on Sunday evening and the morning head count today.

A manhunt in the Nelsonville area was immediately launched, with the Ohio State Highway Patrol is assisting other law enforcement agencies with the search for John Modie. Nelsonville is a very small town in the southeastern region of the state, it is located about 15 miles north of Athens and Ohio University. He was last seen wearing a blue hoodie, gray sweatshirt, and gray sweatpants. Modie should be considered dangerous. The escaped murderer reportedly has some ties to Washington County.

Local police scanner reports note that Hocking College, which is located little about three miles away from the Southeastern Correctional Complex, has been temporarily closed. Nelsonville-York Local School District is on spring break this week, so no students and minimal staff are in the buildings.

Modie has been described as being a white male who is 6 feet, 4 inches tall, with gray hair, a gray mustache, weighs about 230 pounds, and has brown eyes. Escaped murderer John Modie was convicted of killing a woman in Cleveland in 2003, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

Nelsonville area residents have been urged to stay inside and lock their doors while the search for the escaped murderer continues. John Modie is serving a 15-year-to-life sentence for murder and robbery, and escaped. He was convicted of his crimes in Cuyahoga County, which is about three hours north of Athens County.

The Hocking Unit at the Southeastern Correctional Complex is a minimum and medium security facility, and houses about 450 older inmates, NBC 4 News reports. Ohio police have asked the public to please report the sighting of any suspicious person immediately and to try to describe the man’s clothing, physical condition, and exact location of the spotting when calling to report the incident to local law enforcement agencies.

Convicted Murderer Escapes From Prison In Nelsonville, Ohio

https://youtu.be/1HJs7Kc4WDY

News of the escaped murderer from the Nelsonville prison spread quickly in the early morning hours. Residents in Athens County and neighboring Hocking and Vinton Counties were put on high alert and urged to use caution as they went about their daily activities.

The Hocking Unit is an annex of the main Southeastern Correctional Complex located about 30 miles north in Lancaster, the Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website notes. Brian Cook is the prison warden.

Nelsonville area residents have long voiced concerns about housing dangerous inmates in their community — even if the men inside the prison cells are deemed “older” and appropriate to be housed in a minimum to medium security prison.

The Southeastern Correctional Complex is located in a wooded area in the rural region. Police scanner reports indicate law enforcement officers are concentrating the search in the woods that connect the tri-county region. Wayne National Forest and nearby Zaleski State Forest offer many hiding places for Modie — if he is able to traverse the rugged terrain undetected.

Due to a severe storm which passed through the region late Sunday evening, law enforcement agents suspect Modie may have hunkered down somewhere in the woods for many hours before continuing his escape hike. Power outages are still reported in several surrounding counties, with high water and downed trees possibly slowing down both the escaped murderer and the manhunt.

[Image by Shutterstock]

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