The headlines rife with puns about nutty escapes and sticky situations nearly write themselves. But the jam that Walker County Jail in Jasper, Ala., found itself in after 12 inmates skipped out using peanut butter Sunday appears to have ended with the capture of the final escapee on Tuesday.
Walker County Sheriff James Underwood said the inmates were able to trick a new jailer by using peanut butter — scraped from sandwiches — to alter the number over the exit and persuading the guard to open it, thinking it was the entrance to a cell.
The 12 men were then able to scale a barbed wire fence, reports WBRC.
"Changing some numbers on the door with peanut butter — that may sound crazy," Underwood said at a news conference on Monday according to AL.com. "But these people are crazy like a fox."
"We slipped up," Underwood added. As for the duped prison guard, "he made a mistake," Underwood said. "He's a young guy, he hasn't been there that long. This young man was a weak link, and they knew it."
The Sheriff's Office said six of the inmates were captured shortly after their escape. Five more were caught within 24 hours of walking free, reports AL.com.
By Tuesday, the 12th and final escapee, Brady Kilpatrick, 24, was captured in Tequesta, Fla. He had been the only one to make it out of Walker County.
The inmates, ranging in age from 18 to 30, were facing charges including drug possession, theft and attempted murder.
Underwood said some people will receive rewards for tipping off police to the inmates' whereabouts, but others may face criminal charges for aiding and abetting them. "They had some outside help," Underwood said, reports AL.com.
And in Martin County, Fla., where Kilpatrick is being held, Sheriff William D. Snyder was asked by reporters whether he is worried the man facing drug charges will break free from jail once again. Snyder responded, "I can tell you this: He won't be getting peanut butter."
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