‘Little Houdini’ escape in Cobb adds to lore

Christopher Daniel Gay, you are an outlaw legend.

The guy who unlocked his handcuffs while his deputy captor stopped at a Kennesaw Waffle House loomed large in North Georgia, a day after the 35-year-old Tennessean gave cops the slip.

Fugitive, escape artist, the subject of song and magazine profile: Gay, already known as “Little Houdini” for his slippery ways, remained at large Wednesday evening.

Wanted in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama for stealing big rigs and heavy machinery, among other things, Gay’s escape is only extending his lore.

Area police teamed up with Coffee County (Tenn.) Sheriff’s deputies to search for Gay.

His escape happened in the parking lot of the Frey Road Waffle House, close to I-75. A Coffee County deputy was bringing Gay from Florida to Tennessee to face charges of stealing a truck from a Tennessee Wal-Mart. It’s a long drive from Florida to Tennessee, and Gay had been locked up for three months in an Orlando jail.

The officer stopped at the restaurant for food to go.

Food wasn’t the only thing that went.

The deputy left Gay in the car, confident the prisoner wouldn’t get out of handcuffs, leg shackles and a belly chain. The deputy ordered and returned to his car.

“When he opened the door, [Gay] bolted,” said Coffee County Sheriff Steven Graves.

Graves said his deputy searched Gay before putting him into the squad car in Florida. A key or picking device may have aided Gay in his escape, he said.

“Handcuffs are easy, that’s the only way you can get free from belly chains or leg shackles,” Graves said.

Gay sprinted toward Kennesaw State University, a few hundred yards away. University officials think he went to the East Deck. Students reported seeing the 5-foot-5 escapee at the university’s Science Building, too.

Authorities weren’t far behind. “The first thing I know, I look up and all of Cobb County [police] are in the parking lot,” said Dennis McCoy, training manager for the Waffle House.

Dogs, helicopters, police: They sniffed, hovered, asked questions. And?

“If you ask me, he’s loooong gone,” said McCoy.

“This is the same story,” said Michael Douglas, police chief of Pleasant View, Tenn., who’s familiar with Gay’s history. “That’s how he got away before.”

Gay’s most notorious escapade began as an effort to visit his dying mother, and is mentioned in a ballad by Tim O’Brien, a West Virginia-based songwriter who won a 2005 Grammy.

In January 2007, while being transported to Alabama to face charges for stealing a recreational vehicle, Gay slipped away from a pair of policemen at a rest stop in South Carolina, Douglas said.

Then, Gay stole a pickup and drove it nearly 300 miles northwest to Manchester. In Manchester, Gay allegedly took a Wal-Mart tractor-trailer loaded with thousands of dollars of merchandise, and drove to Pleasant View, about 30 miles from Nashville and 15 miles from his Robertson County birth home.

“Police get into pursuit with him and chase him into Pleasant View,” Douglas said. “He runs the truck into his mother’s front yard, then runs into the woods.”

News reports —- and O’Brien’s song —- say Gay was trying to visit Anna Shull, who was dying of cancer. The song, sung to the tune of Woody Guthrie’s “Pretty Boy Floyd,” mentions the moment:

“Stole a pickup in Carolina, then a Wal-Mart truck with 18 wheels. He drove toward his dyin’ mama in the Cheatham County hills. And it’s down those lanes and back roads the police made their chase. And he almost made her trailer, he almost saw her face.”

Gay’s mother died weeks later of cancer, according to The Associated Press.

“I just knew there was a song in there,” O’Brien said on acousticguitarforum.com. “Chris Gay’s mother even rhymed for a reporter saying, ‘What he done was wrong, but he knows his mama don’t have long.’ “

After escaping authorities in Pleasant View, Douglas said Gay made his way to Nashville, and made off with country singer Crystal Gayle’s tour bus.

“He drove it to Florida to a NASCAR race,” Douglas said.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Gay told the manager of a Lakeland, Fla., racetrack that he was there to pick up driver Tony Stewart, but it was discovered that he was driving Gayle’s bus.

In Tennessee, Gay is wanted for stealing over $1 million worth of construction equipment, Douglas said.

In Kennesaw on Tuesday, police alerted the campus about 3 p.m. that an unarmed fugitive, not considered dangerous, was somewhere about. Officials evacuated the Science and Clendenin buildings, where students were readying for midterm exams. By 5:30 p.m., cops decided that Gay was no longer on campus. Still, they canceled evening classes, to be safe.

Students joked about Gay’s alleged campus romp.

“If he’d have gone into a calculus class, he would have surrendered on the spot,” said Kayna Wilbur, a 25-year-old junior majoring in education.

And about that Wal-Mart truck, an interstate behemoth. Most thieves would be happy with a hot Honda.

“What’s up with this guy?” asked Brandie Beane, a KSU senior majoring in psychology. “Does he like taking people’s big toys?”

Ms. Beane, the police would surely like to ask him.

Staff writers Rhonda Cook and Kent A. Miles contributed to this article.

TIMELINE

Christopher D. Gay’s life in crime dates back a decade, according to official accounts and media reports.

> Aug. 18, 1999 —- Gay committed theft by deception in Troup County, Ga., and later was convicted.

> Sept. 14, 2000 —- Gay committed theft by taking in Troup County. He escaped from jail after telling guards he was suicidal and being put in a cell near the main door.

> May 9, 2003 —- Gay began serving a five-year prison sentence in Georgia on the Troup County charges.

> April 13, 2004 —- Gay was released on parole.

> Jan. 21, 2007 —- Facing charges of stealing an RV in Alabama, Gay escaped from a prisoner transport van at a rest area near Hardeeville, S.C. Gay then allegedly stole a truck and drove to Manchester, Tenn., then took a Wal-Mart tractor-trailer and headed to Nashville. He reportedly wanted to visit his terminally ill mother.

> Jan. 23, 2007 —- Police said Gay abandoned the Wal-Mart truck in a field 50 yards from his mom’s home. He fled into woods without seeing her when officers approached.

> Jan. 25, 2007 —- Gay showed up at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla., in country singer Crystal Gayle’s allegedly stolen tour bus. Racetrack officials became suspicious and called police when he told them he was there to pick up NASCAR driver Tony Stewart. Gay left in the bus before officers arrived.

> Jan. 26, 2007 —- Gay was arrested in Daytona Beach, Fla., driving the stolen tour bus. A local newspaper reported Gay was pulled over after police working an undercover prostitution sting spotted him dropping off a suspected hooker. When police stopped the bus, Gay asked for directions to Daytona International Speedway. He was arrested and booked into Volusia County Jail.

> March 9, 2007 —- Alabama state correctional officers picked up Gay from the Volusia County Jail so that he could be extradited on charges of stealing an RV. It is unclear where in Alabama he was taken, how long he served time there, or when he was released .

> February 2007 —- Bluegrass musician Tim O’Brien wrote and recorded “The Ballad of Christopher Daniel Gay.” The Sunday Telegraph of London published a 1,000-word account of Gay’s escapades.

> Feb. 7, 2007 —- Gay’s mother, Anna Shull, died.

> August 2007 —- A Maxim magazine cover story on Gay was titled “The Last Outlaw! The Hell-on-18-Wheels Odyssey of Fugitive Christopher Gay.”

> Dec. 5, 2008 —- Gay was arrested in Orlando for trying to sell stolen items to a pawn shop.

> This week —- Gay was picked up by a Tennessee sheriff’s deputy in Orlando after serving 82 days in the Orange County, Fla., jail. While being transported to Tennessee to face charges for stealing a Wal-Mart truck, he escaped from a deputy at a Kennesaw Waffle House. Police shut down Kennesaw State University for three hours but didn’t find him.

> Wednesday —- Gay remained at large.

—- Compiled by Mike Morris and Marcus K. Garner

AJC.COM /METRO

> See video and photos of search and hear song about fugitive.

 JEMAL R. BRINSON / Staff 
Map locates Kennesaw State University, Pine Tree Country Club and the Waffle House where prisoner escaped. Inset map outlines area of 
detail in Cobb County in relation to Atlanta.