Two convicted Florida murderers who were mistakenly let out of prison were to rendezvous with an Atlanta driver on the Gulf coast before leaving the state, authorities said.
After the capture of Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins Saturday, the GBI has been tasked with finding out just who that driver was and how deeply he or she was involved in the scam that allowed the men to walk out of a Florida state prison.
“We know that on Saturday night, they were awaiting a vehicle from Atlanta to pick them up and transport them out of state,” Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey said. “We are working with the GBI … on this aspect of the case.”
Walker and Jenkins, both serving life sentences,benefited from a scheme that created bogus release papers for them, letting them leave prison as if state officials allowed it.
Jenkins was released on Sept. 27, and Walker was released on Oct. 8.
It is unclear what they did before their capture Saturday night, but they were not traveling together before they met in Panama City Beach, Fla., where they were awaiting a ride from a mysterious Atlanta chauffer.
Bailey reached out to the GBI, officials said.
But while GBI agents are on alert, Inspector John Heinen said that the Georgia agency has yet to receive any information to point their way.
“We haven’t gotten anything to run down as of yet,” Heinen told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. “When those leads do come in, we’re going to make them priority.”
Walker and Jenkins, both 34, are back in custody but aren’t cooperating with investigators grilling them about who forged the release documents for them, who helped them get the 350 miles from Orlando to Panama City Beach, what other prisoners have escaped using this scheme and who was coming to get them from Atlanta.
Bailey said the forged release papers were mailed to the prison, and investigators are probing them for DNA and finger prints, among other things.
Investigators also are looking through the inmate computers to find digital evidence.
The FDLE has identified suspects, but is encouraging people who helped Jenkins and Walker escape to turn themselves in.
“(Jenkins and Walker) have very little to lose, but those who helped them, have very much to lose,” Bailey said. “I urge those who helped these inmates in any way to come forward before we find you.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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