Search:
StoriesVideos
Home News 

Story

Stolen Truck Connected To Escaped Wintersville Inmates?

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 – updated: 9:34 am EDT August 19, 2008

Two inmates are still on the run after breaking out of a minimum security prison in Wintersville on Saturday.

NEWS9 talked to local man who said he came face to face with the escapees after they broke out and he believes they stole his truck during their getaway.

The duo broke out of the East Ohio Correction Center in Wintersville and the Jefferson County sheriff said it's a possibility that they also stole the truck in Richmond after they broke out.

Robert Dinger told NEWS9 he was in the alley behind a Richmond pizza shop Saturday when he came face to face with one of two men accused of breaking out of the Wintersville prison.

"I gave him a light, didn't think anything of it. I just had a weird feeling about the guys you know," said Dinger.

He said the guys he saw looked identical to Derek Kiggans and Joshua Brown, who allegedly busted out of the prison earlier that day.

"I got a real good look at him. It stuck in my mind," said Dinger.

About an hour after running into them, Dinger said he and his wife noticed his 2000 Dodge Durango was missing.

"We came out 10 or 15 after 11 p.m. and my wife was like, where's the truck? It was gone," said Dinger.

Dinger called Jefferson County deputies to report it, and went to talk to the Amsterdam police chief too. That's where he heard about the prison break -- and realized the duo they were looking for sounded very familiar.

"I said well do you have a picture of the guys? They brought me a picture down, and it was instant -- that was the guy," said Dinger.

Dinger said there's a reason he couldn't shake that weird feeling he had.

"I'd just like my truck back and especially the thing that were in it. I had some personal items in it, some things that are hard to replace,” said Dinger.

Kiggans and Brown had only been at the minimum security prison for about a month.

Kiggans was there on a charge of receiving stolen property out of Guernsey County, and Brown, on a breaking and entering charge out of Jefferson County.

Local Deals