Sheriff: Escaped Georgia inmate ditches jumpsuit, steals car in South Carolina

Christopher Nicholas Carroll

Christopher Nicholas Carroll

An inmate who escaped Tuesday from a jail in Middle Georgia is now believed to be in a stolen pickup truck in South Carolina, officials said Friday.

Christopher Nicholas Carroll escaped from the Lamar County jail and drove away in a county van, Sheriff Brad White previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“We know now that he is no longer in our orange jumpsuit,” White said Friday. “It was recovered in an abandoned warehouse in Ulmer, South Carolina.”

Carroll stole a truck from Bamberg County earlier Friday morning, White said. The truck is described as a 2003 Chevrolet pickup with a white hood and a South Carolina tag number of MWA 854.

White said deputies with multiple sheriff’s offices are working together to track Carroll.

“We still believe he is in Olar, South Carolina,” White said.

Olar, a city in Bamberg County, is about 7 miles from where the pickup was stolen.

The sheriff’s office has been following leads and has already had two different sightings of Carroll, White said. Both led to multi-agency manhunts, he said.

Investigators believe Carroll escaped after he used a metal rod from the shower to knock out part of a wall, which he then shimmied through to escape the jail. Once outside, he escaped through a hole in a chain fence.

The county van was found early Wednesday in Allendale County, S.C., officials said.

Carroll was in jail on three counts of obstruction of an officer and one count of theft by receiving stolen property, the sheriff’s office said. The 5-foot-9, 165-pound man was scheduled to go to prison Thursday.

Anyone with information about Carroll’s whereabouts is asked to call 911.

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