NEWS

Juvenile escapee captured in Delaware

Spenser Hickey
Reporter

DELAWARE — The escape ended one county away and more than 15 hours later.

Marion City Police officer Mark Elliott joined dozens of Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers in a search of a wooded area Delaware County for escaped juvenile Michael Wilson on Tuesday. Wilson, who escaped from the Edward J. Ruzzo Juvenile Center in Marion on Monday, was arrested in the City of Delaware about 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. James Miller/The Marion Star

Officials reported Michael Wilson, 16, escaped the Juvenile Detention Center in Marion County by scaling a fence at about 7 p.m. Monday. He had been held on an unruly juvenile charge, Delaware County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Tracy Whited said.

The Ohio Highway Patrol and Marion County Sheriff's Office worked through the night to locate him after 911 calls reported sightings, but it was a state trooper in Delaware County who reported seeing him next.

Delaware County Sheriff Russell Martin said there was no information Wilson was helped by any collaborators, but he did have connections to Delaware.

"He's had a fairly extensive criminal history in the area, including interaction with the Delaware City Police Department, so he has contacts down here," Martin said.

After the trooper reported identifying Wilson around 6 a.m. Tuesday and said he entered a wooded area until 10:30 a.m., when a female high school student said she saw him near U.S. 23 and the Delaware County Fairgrounds.

By that time, multiple agencies where pursuing him; they had planned to take part in a K-9 training event in Sunbury and instead took part in a real search.

Shortly after the 10:30 sighting, a sheriff's deputy and Ohio Wesleyan University public safety officer Jay McCann converged on Wilson, who was unarmed. Officials said he was ordered to stop by the deputy, who was parallel to him in a vehicle, but he allegedly refused and ran several hundred yards as McCann and the deputy kept pace in their vehicles.

"(The) sheriff's deputy yelled several times, 'Stop, stop, quit running.' And then he deployed his taser," said McCann, who said he then assisted the deputy in handcuffing Wilson.

Paramedics treated Wilson as part of standard procedure, and Martin reported Wilson continued to act belligerently and make threats.

"I really try not to repeat what the suspect said; he was just not happy that he had been caught," McCann said.

Martin said the eventual arrest demonstrates the cooperative nature of law enforcement, as a joint effort was needed to cover the search area and make the arrest.

The manhunt began Monday evening. As a precaution, River Valley and Pleasant local school districts operated on two-hour delays Tuesday. Several Delaware County schools went on lockdown Tuesday morning because of Wilson's proximity.

"Despite this young man's criminal history, we're hopeful he can begin to turn things around. We're grateful the community is safer now as a result of Wilson's capture," Martin said in a news release.

shickey@marionstar.com

740-244-9940

Twitter: @SpenserHickey