The Latest: 2 escaped inmates arrested at US-Mexico border

MARINA, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on the capture of two inmates who escaped a California jail (all times local):

11:20 a.m.

An official says two murder suspects who escaped a California jail were captured Wednesday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents as they tried to enter the United States from Mexico.

Monterey County Sheriff's Office Capt. John Thornburg says authorities received a tip that 20-year-old Jonathan Salazar and 21-year-old Santos Fonseca had been spotted in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, and had alerted federal officials.

Thornburg says the two are in the custody of Monterey County officials and are on their way to a jail in Salinas, 440 miles (708 kilometers) north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

___

8:00 a.m.

Authorities say one of two murder suspects who escaped from a California jail was reported to be at a motel about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the jail, but authorities found no one there after a nearly eight-hour standoff.

Monterey County Sheriff's Office Capt. John Thornburg tells KPIX-TV deputies surrounded a motel in the town of Marina on Tuesday after getting a call from an employee who reported spotting 20-year-old Jonathan Salazar.

Deputies found his motel room empty.

Deputies say Salazar and 21-year-old Santos Fonseca escaped Sunday from the Monterey County jail in Salinas after climbing thorough a hole they made on the ceiling of a bathroom.

Both had been in custody since 2018 and were awaiting trial on murder counts and "numerous other felony charges" in separate cases.