Manhunt returns to Michigan City area

LONG BEACH, Ind. | As law enforcement personnel used helicopters and police dogs to search a 3-square-mile wooded area just east of Michigan City on Wednesday afternoon, details emerged on the escape of three convicts Sunday from the Indiana State Prison.

U.S. Marshal Shannon Robinson told The Associated Press that authorities began searching the area after a woman at a convenience store spotted someone matching the description of fugitive Mark Booher going into the woods.

Police aircraft circled the area just north of U.S. 12 and Karwick Road while dozens of law enforcement personnel, some with dogs, searched the ground for one or both of the men who remained on the loose. They focused on the Long Beach town maintenance property and the wooded area next to it.

The search area is located between Al's Supermarket and Hacienda restaurant.

Bob McDonald, who lives in The Shores, a housing development across from the search area, said he noticed authorities swarming the area about 11 a.m. Wednesday, and the search intensified in the hours that followed.

McDonald said it's "interesting" the focus of the search returned to the Michigan City area after having been in Michigan. McDonald said he is concerned the escapees might be near his home, but he said he was "just keeping the doors and windows locked."

Investigators believe the three fugitives had unauthorized and unsupervised access to a series of tunnels that ultimately allowed them to escape, an Indiana Department of Correction official said.

DOC Commissioner Edwin G. Buss said an internal investigation found three correctional officers may have been negligent in supervising Booher, a 46-year-old convicted murderer; 45-year-old convicted rapist Lance Battreal; and 48-year-old convicted murderer Charles Smith.

Booher and Battreal remain at large. Smith was caught Monday by a private security guard outside Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's vacation home in Grand Beach, Mich.

Buss said the three men escaped through barred and locked tunnels, pipes and storm drains underneath the 149-year-old facility, and walked out near the intersection of Seventh and Grant streets in Michigan City through a manhole cover. He said there was no information that indicated the correctional officers were aware of the three men's escape plans, or otherwise aided in the escape.

However, prison policy dictates prisoners working in the tunnels are to be under constant supervision, and investigators believe the offenders had unauthorized and unsupervised access to the tunnels on numerous occasions in the recent past.

The three correctional officers have been suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation, Buss said.

The tunnels now have been secured, and the prison remains on lockdown.

Meanwhile, authorities increased to $6,000 the reward for information leading to the capture of Booher and Battreal.

Authorities believe Booher was with Smith before the capture.

Anyone with information about the current or potential whereabouts of Booher or Battreal are asked to call (800) 782-7463 or visit http://www.wetip.com.

Ken Kosky and Chris Keller, both of The Times, contributed to this report.