Georgia police capture escaped fugitive charged in sheriff's death,

A Georgia prisoner, who was able to slip out of his shackles while being transferred between jails to await trial for killing a sheriff, was recaptured following a manhunt that lasted more than 10 hours, police said late Tuesday. Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman Scott Dutton said Jim Edward Lowery was in custody after more than 100 law enforcement officers swarmed a search area with help from helicopters and dogs.

"He was in close proximity to where they were looking for him," Dutton said. "He was captured without incident. Nobody was injured." Lowery is charged with felony murder in the Jun16 death of Montgomery County Sheriff Ladson O’Connor, who crashed his patrol truck while Lowery led officers on a high-speed pursuit. On Tuesday morning, Lowery was driven in a patrol car from a Treutlen County jail to a Laurens County jail. As the car arrived at the jail, Lowery managed to slip off his leg shackles and use them to smash through a window, the GBI said in a news release Tuesday evening. He fled into the woods, eluding the Treutlen County deputy escorting him. Authorities said Lowery was wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs when he escaped, but the handcuffs were later found intact lying on a roadway. The Georgia Sheriff's Association has said O'Connor was the first Georgia sheriff killed in the line of duty in more than 20 years. O’Connor was helping deputies chase Lowery when he crashed his car and died on Georgia Highway 56 near Mount Vernon, a rural community in southeast Georgia. Officers began chasing Lowery after the vehicle he was in made suspicious maneuvers near two deputies attempting to assist a motorist, according to a Georgia Bureau of Investigations release. Lowery fled as the deputies tried to stop him and fired gunshots at three officers during the chase, authorities have said. O'Connor joined when the pursuit crossed into Montgomery County. Deputies arrested Lowery after using spiked strips to deflate the tires of his vehicle. Also arrested and charged was Lowery's passenger, Nicole Dixie Best. O’Connor was sworn in as sheriff in January 2013 and left behind a wife and four children, according to WMAZ.