A Crawford County Jail inmate who stripped off his orange jumpsuit and fled through a propped-open door was back in custody within three hours, found crouched under wood and debris in a swamp less than a mile from the lockup. Casie Jo Helsel escaped around 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26, and was captured just before 4 p.m. in brush behind the Grayling Country Club.
Helsel, identified as a 44-year-old inmate, was found hiding in the swamp after Michigan State Police Aviation used a FLIR thermal imaging camera to spot him in the woods, according to MLive. By the time troopers zeroed in on his location, Helsel had shed his jail-issued jumpsuit and was wearing only a white T-shirt and shorts, the outlet reported.
The escape itself appears to have been strikingly simple. As UpNorthLive reported, Helsel got out through a door that had been left propped open. From there, he made it only a short distance before holing up in the swamp behind the country club, which sits less than a mile from the jail, according to the same outlet's account of the thermal-imaging search.
A Multi-Agency Search by Air, Water and Foot
The hunt for Helsel pulled in resources well beyond the Crawford County Sheriff's Office. Michigan State Police Aviation flew overhead with its thermal camera while Roscommon County Marine Patrol brought in its airboat to help cover the swampy terrain, per the Crawford County Avalanche's report on the search. Other agencies joined the effort on foot, scouring the brush near the country club.
That combination of air support and ground teams paid off fast. The search wrapped up at about 3:58 p.m., with Helsel found hiding under wood and debris and taken back into custody without further incident, the station's report noted.
Sheriff's Office Vows Policy Review
With Helsel back behind bars, attention is shifting to how he got out in the first place. The sheriff's office says it will conduct a detailed review of the incident and make changes to policies and procedures, according to the same UpNorthLive report. No further details on what prompted the door to be left open, or what specific changes might follow, have been released.
