Manhunt Underway for 4 Ga. Inmates — Including Murder Suspect — Who Escaped Jail

Authorities are searching for fugitives who fled early Monday, prompting lockdowns in local schools, according to police

Georgia authorities are searching for four inmates who escaped jail Monday morning — including one who is charged with murder, according to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

The four men escaped Bibb County Detention Center through “a damaged day room window and a cut fence,” where a blue Dodge Challenger was waiting to assist them at 3:00 a.m., according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.

The inmates were identified in the release as Joey Fournier, 52, accused of murder; Marc Kerry Anderson, 24, who was being held on aggravated assault charges; Johnifer Dernard Barnwell, who was being detained by the United States Marshals and Chavis Demaryo Stokes, 29, who was being detained after being accused of possession of a firearm and drug trafficking.

Several law enforcement agencies — including the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, the FBI and the United States Marshals Office — are searching for the inmates, per the release.

During a news conference on Monday, Sheriff David Davis said authorities are “investigating this, trying to piece together what all happened,” adding that around 6:00 a.m. “a break in the fence was found in the perimeter” of the jail facility.

Davis said authorities immediately “started going backwards to figure out what happened” and saw through video footage that the inmates had escaped through the dayroom window.

He noted that there was “some video footage of a vehicle that had been there earlier in the evening, that looked like they had been tampering with the fence, as well as bringing some items into the enclosed area of the fence that we believe were used by these inmates to escape.”

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“We’re going to look into all of the factors that went into the staffing decisions and the staffing levels last night to see what role that played into it,” he added, noting there were “less than ten” staff members working at the time. “The major of the jail, this is his first day,” Davis said, “So he got a good wakeup call this morning.”

All Bibb County Schools were placed on a lockdown following the escape, according to 13 WMAZ.

Anyone with information in reference to the location of the inmates or the vehicle is urged to contact the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 478-751-7500 or Macon Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.

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