Federal jail escapee from Missouri caught in Illinois

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A suspect in a brazen multimillion-dollar heist was recaptured Wednesday about 60 miles from the Missouri jail from which he bolted with another inmate, ending his two-day run from federal agents.

John Wesley Jones, 36, was found weaponless before dawn hiding in an attic in a cul-de-sac rental home in Swansea, Ill., and was taken to an Illinois jail. As the U.S. Marshals Service continued its hunt for the other fugitive, Corey Durand Cross, 31, agents also began relocating nearly three dozen federal prisoners who were kept at the same Missouri jail as the two escapees.

Both men busted out of the Lincoln County Jail just northwest of their hometown of St. Louis on Monday after somehow making their way onto the lockup's roof and down a 30-foot wall - an escape authorities have refused to publicly explain.

Jones' capture confirmed what federal agents had suspected since the jailbreak - that Jones still was lurking around St. Louis. Robert O'Connor, a spokesman for eastern Missouri's marshals service, wouldn't divulge what led agents to the Swansea home, though he said investigators believe Cross still remains close.

Authorities had publicly considered both men potentially armed and dangerous, given the their backgrounds. At the time of their escape, both were being held without bond on federal charges in separate weapons-related cases. The FBI also had named Jones as a suspect in the well-orchestrated, daylight holdup in August of an ATM Solutions site in St. Louis, and Cross was awaiting a trial scheduled next month on felony charges of illegally having an SKS assault-style rifle during suspected drug-trafficking and possessing heroin with plans to deal it.

Jones' capture after a "a full-court press" manhunt including the FBI brought some relief, O'Connor said.

Nov. 17 coverage:

ST. LOUIS (AP) - One of two federal defendants who escaped from an eastern Missouri jail is back in custody after being captured in neighboring Illinois.

KSDK-TV reports that John Wesley Jones spent two days on the run before being recaptured Wednesday morning in Swansea, Ill., about 13 miles east of his hometown of St. Louis.

Jones and Corey Durand Cross bolted Monday from the Lincoln County lockup northwest of St. Louis in Troy by climbing to the jail's roof before scaling down a 30-foot wall.

Cross remains at large.

Federal investigators had named Jones a suspect in the potentially multimillion-dollar August heist of an ATM-servicing business in St. Louis.

At the time of their escape, Jones and Cross had been jailed without bond on weapons charges. Cross also faces drug charges.

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Information from: KSDK-TV, http://www.ksdk.com