Prison escapee died by drowning in Ohio River, preliminary autopsy says.
Prison escapee Bradley Gillespie died by drowning in the Ohio River, according to preliminary autopsy results from the coroner in Henderson, Kentucky.
Toxicology results won't be available for several weeks.
Gillespie's body was spotted by a boater on the Ohio River over Memorial Day weekend.
Gillespie, 50, broke out of the Allen/Oakwood Correctional Facility sometime May 22 or May 23 along with James M. Lee. Lee who was captured in Henderson, Kentucky, which is about 350 miles southwest of Lima.
The two men crashed a stolen car into someone's yard, which was about a block from the river. In a foot chase after the crash, police caught Lee but not Gillespie.
Warden Angela Hunsinger-Stuff disclosed that Lee and Gillespie were last seen on prison surveillance camera footage at 8:41 a.m. May 22. Seven mandated headcounts failed to flag them as missing.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction placed five employees on paid administrative leave: Major Carl Bendross and Corrections Officers Tre'mon Glenn-Crawford, Lain Patterson, Taylor Robey and Derrick Coil.
The Ohio Civil Services Employees Association, the union that represents prison guards, placed the blame on officer shortages and mandatory overtime shifts that have left workers exhausted.
“It’s a perfect storm. You can’t be 70 officers short and mandate entire shifts to work 16 hours a day over and over in a prison. It’s not safe for staff or inmates. It has consequences. And in this instance, serious consequences. We’ve said it before, and we’ll keep saying it. Something’s got to give,” said OCSEA President Chris Mabe in a written statement.
Across Ohio prisons, there are 2,000 officer openings, the union said.
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said in a written statement that the prison in Lima has 48 openings and there are 1,062 officer vacancies systemwide. At the time of the escape, all the posts at the prison were fully staffed, she said.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Prison escapee drowned in the Ohio River, autopsy says.
