Fugitive Who Escaped Missouri Jail Brazenly Steals Police Car While Being Arrested In Oklahoma, Authorities Say

A Missouri man escaped from prison, allegedly kidnapped a woman while on the run and then escaped police custody again by stealing a police car, according to authorities.

Travis Lee Davis, 30, had originally been arrested for threatening to kill his girlfriend and her 8-month-old child in February, according to KRCGTV, a New Bloomfield, Missouri-based news organization. At the time, he was charged with with kidnapping, domestic assault, child endangerment, resisting arrest and violating the terms of his parole, and was being held on $110,000 bond.

Davis made his first escape on March 9 when he snuck through the the ceiling at the Pettis County Jail, climbed rafters, and squeezed through an access hole in a concrete wall. Jail officials noticed he was missing during a head count in the morning.

After a four-day search, police finally located and cuffed Davis on Wednesday after receiving a distressed call from a woman who said she had been kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to drive to a Heavener, Oklahoma gas station, where Davis had fallen asleep.

But Davis managed to wiggled into the front of the police car in which he was being held and sped off, according to authorities.

Police are baffled as to how Travis Lee Davis, 30, managed to escape from them twice in one week. Photo: Missouri State Highway Patrol

“He somehow got the cuffs to the front of him and somehow managed to get through the window in the partition while my guys were interviewing the victim,” Heavener Police Chief Ty Armstrong told the Sedalia Democrat. “He went through the window, stole the car and went approximately two miles and crashed then fled on foot.”

Nearby schools were put on lockdown as highway patrol scanned the area, according to The Washington Post. Heavy rains prevented police dogs from tracking Davis' scent. 

The Heavener Police Department are not sure where Davis is currently heading.

"It is possible that Davis escaped the area by trespassing on a freight train, however people in the area should keep their doors locked and be watchful for strangers," they said in a statement Wednesday, according to ABC News. "Anyone driving in the area should not pick up any hitchhiker and should definitely report them to the Leflore County Sheriff's Office."

After further investigation, police believe the woman who Davis held at gunpoint, Christole Hurst, is a former paramour of the convict's and may have helped him pull off the first escape, according to KHBS of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Security footage allegedly shows them gambling together at an Oklahoma casino on Monday morning.

Hurst has since disappeared as well. LeFlore County Sheriff Rob Seale said he plans on filing charges against her as well when she is found,

Davis is described as a white male, who is 6 feet tall and weighs 150 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. He is identifiable by a visible neck tattoo of an eye inside a triangle. Police encourage anyone with information on the suspect's whereabouts to contact their local law enforcement agency immediately.