US launches manhunt for prison escapee

A  man convicted in four murders has escaped from a Michigan prison and briefly held a woman hostage, officials told Skynews reports.

Michael David Elliot was discovered missing on Sunday night at around 9.30pm local time from the Ionia Correctional Facility in central Michigan.

“It appears he created a hole at the bottom of the two perimeter fences of the correctional facility and then crawled through those holes,” according to Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan.

Department Director Dan Heyns said Elliot was dressed in a white kitchen uniform, which might have helped him blend in with snow and evade security.

Once outside the prison, Elliot abducted a woman in Ionia using a knife or box cutter and drove her Jeep to a gas station in northern Indiana, roughly 100 miles southwest of Ionia.

The LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department said the woman was able to call 911 from a concealed mobile phone while he was pumping gas at the store near Middlebury in Elkhart County.

The woman ran to a restroom where she locked herself inside.

Elliot knocked on the door, but she stayed inside until police officers arrived. She was not harmed.

A nationwide alert was issued as law enforcement continued their search for Elliot.

“We believe that he is no longer in the state of Michigan, however citizens in the region should remain vigilant,” Mr Heyns said.

The woman told police officers he said he wanted to get as far from the prison as possible.

Elliot was serving life behind bars for fatally shooting four people and burning down their house in 1993. Police said Elliot and his accomplices were trying to steal money from a drug dealer.

One of Elliot’s co-defendants testified against him, saying he laughed about shooting the victims in the head.

Marlan urged citizens to call 911 if they see anything suspicious or become aware of Elliot’s whereabouts.

Michigan State Police said the vehicle Elliot stole from the woman whom he abducted was a 2004 red four-door Jeep Liberty with a Michigan licence plate 5FTG55.