Records reveal details in escape

The accused murderer and his neighboring cell mate, a convicted thief, who escaped the parish jail Sunday night in Centerville attempted to conceal their escape by placing cement blocks in their bunks “to give the appearance someone was sleeping in the bunks,” according to an arrest affidavit.
The St. Mary Parish sheriff’s affidavit does not indicate the size of the cement blocks, where they came from or how they got into the cells.
A jailor found Christopher Horton secured in Cell 168 and Joshua Folks secured in Cell 169 sometime Sunday as he made rounds through the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center, the affidavit stated. No time of that observation was given.
Officers got no response from the two inmates when they were “serving the morning chow” Monday morning and that is when the cement blocks were discovered in the beds, the affidavit said.
St. Mary Parish spokeswoman Traci Landry said the prisoners were discovered missing around 4 a.m.
Landry was asked by email what time the last cell check was made and what time prisoners are roused for “morning chow.” She promised a phone call later but did not answer questions by the time of publication of today’s paper.
Seven weeks prior to his alleged escape, Horton was accused of tearing a vent from the ceiling of Cell 168 on Dec. 15 when he got angry over a discipline write up, an arrest report stated. He was accused in a sheriff’s report of using the vent to break a window during the incident.
In this week’s escape, jailers noticed holes in the ceilings of the cells of both escaped inmates leading to a crawl space, the affidavit stated. Detectives entered the crawl space and “located blood on metal tin within the crawl space leading to an area outside of booking. Upon reviewing the video, both inmates were “observed running across the yard heading in the direction of the railroad tracks” behind the facility, the affidavit said.
Landry said the prisoners made their escape about 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
Landry said the escapees were apprehended by Lafayette police around 11 a.m. Tuesday. The Lafayette police arrest affidavit said the men were located inside a tour bus on North University Avenue. Lafayette Police were notified by the U.S. Marshal Task Force that the men were escapees from St. Mary Parish, the affidavit said.
Horton is accused of participating in the murder of his brother, Adam Horton, in the victim’s Bayou Vista home in the Little Pine Trailer Park on Sept. 2, 2007.
Horton’s attorneys said Horton is “mentally retarded and suffers from more than one diagnosed mental illness, “but he was found mentally competent in November 2011 after an evaluation at the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System, Forensic Division in Jackson.
A ruling on a motion to suppress some of the evidence against Horton is scheduled for April 3 with a trial date set for April 14.
Robert Fuhrer, Horton’s public defender, is claiming among other things that his client was arrested without a warrant and his incriminating statements were not lawfully obtained since he did not have “requisite intellect needed ... to intelligently waive his rights” specifically with regard to remaining silent and having an attorney present during questioning.
Folks was in jail after being arrested Jan. 10 for theft of over $1,500. In 2007, Folks pleaded guilty to theft of over $500 and was sentenced to nine years in prison for a string of Walmart thefts, court records show.
A 2007 Franklin police arrest report said Folks admitted to stealing merchandise from five Walmart stores, including the ones in Bayou Vista and Franklin. Police recovered about $25,000 of stolen merchandise from Folks home subsequent to that arrest, the report said.