Indiana Cops: Escapee On The Loose

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Kevin Fuller was serving time for several violent crimes when he escaped the Westville, Indiana Correctional Facility.

They say you can't go home again, but according to cops, that's exactly what one recent prison escapee did.

Police say they've learned more details about the recent activities of fugitive Kelvin Fuller, who scaled the fence of the Westville Correctional Facility in Indiana last week.  According to cops, Fuller returned to his hometown of Anderson, Indiana less than 24 hours after his escape and robbed a convenience store.

Fuller went on to commit several more crimes, according to cops, including a bank robbery. But authorities say they thought they might have him in their grasp as recently as Monday afternoon.

During a routine traffic stop, Delaware County cops say they pulled over a man who said his name was Duncan Fuller and who claimed to be Kelvin's brother. With a massive search underway for Kelvin, police say they weren't about to let "Duncan" go.

Police say they brought Fuller back to the sheriff's department, where he was kept until he could be identified. Sure enough, cops say, the man turned out to be Duncan Fuller -- although he's apparently Kelvin's cousin, not his brother.

Escapee Responsible For Nearby Crimes

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Police in Fishers think this bank robbery -- caught on tape -- could be the work of escapee Kelvin Fuller.

On the morning of Wednesday, August 1, 2007, investigators say Kelvin Fuller broke through a building inside prison walls, scaled an exterior fence, and fled.  Prison officials picked up on his absence during an emergency count of detainees at 9:50 that morning.  Detectives say that he escaped sometime between 8 a.m. and the count at nearly 10 a.m.

Fuller was serving a sentence for armed robbery, arson, battery and criminal confinement convictions out of Madison County, Indiana.  The arson and burglary charges were from a very high-profile April 1990 case.  Fuller was convicted for starting a blaze that caused more than a half million dollars in damage at the office complex of famed gospel singer Sandi Patty.

State police investigators say that after his escape, Fuller went to a home near the prison and broke in.  They say the home owner was running a vaccuum at the time and didn't even hear the invasion.  Investigators say Fuller stole two sets of car keys.  They say he fled the scene with a 2004, four-door, white Chevrolet Malibu.

Police describe the car as having a sunroof and say it has Indiana "In God We Trust" plates.  The owner discovered the crime at around 11 a.m. and notified authorities.

Detectives say that Fuller drove the car to nearby Merrillville next.  At 11:25 a.m., a female bus driver who had just dropped off a group of children in the parking lot of the Deep River Water Park was assaulted and robbed.  She was injured so badly that she had to be treated at a nearby emergency room.  Cops say it, too, was the work of Fuller.  They say after stealing $40, Fuller fled the parking lot in the stolen Malibu heading westbound on U.S. Route 30.

The next day, on Thursday, August 2, someone walked in to a Fishers, Indiana bank with a tan long-sleeved shirt, khaki pants and a wide-brimmed hat and robbed it.  Cops say it was Kelvin Fuller and they've even got him on surveillance at a nearby Target store purchasing the hat.  Investigators say that Fuller made off with an undisclosed amount of money and they were no sightings of the getaway car.  Police think he may still be in the white Chevy Malibu.

On surveillance, it appears that Fuller has a full, "salt and pepper" beard.  Cops say the clothes match the description of Fuller's prison uniform.

Indiana To Alabama?

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Cops say Kelvin Fuller is driving a stolen 2004 white Chevy Malibu.

The Indiana Department of Corrections, Indiana State Police and the U.S. Marshals are working together to get Fuller back into custody.  They think Fuller could return to his previous hometown of Anderson, Indiana or seek out his mother who has recently moved to Montgomery, Alabama.

Investigators say he should be considered very dangerous.

Fuller Picked Up In Montana

Kelvin Fuller, the Indiana prison escapee accused of leaving a trail of crimes in his wake, has been arrested in Butte, Mont.  Late in the evening of Tuesday, August 7, 2007, Butte police pulled over a white Chevy Malibu with stolen plates when they saw what looked like a funny drop-off in their town.

They started to investigate, and it turns out that a man dropped off a hitchhiker at the bus station in Butte after picking him up in Billings earlier in the day. The man and the hitchhiker had similar stories and everything seemed to check out.

When cops asked for identification, the driver could not produce a license. The driver seemed nice and articulate, but the Butte police officer -- having pulled the car over -- went ahead and ran the license plates.

The cop discovered the plates should have been on a completely different vehicle. The driver continued to be friendly as the cop then ran the vehicle's VIN number.

The VIN number came back to the vehicle that Fuller allegedly stole immediately after his break-out from the Westville Correctional Facility in Indiana.

Police took the driver into custody, but he refused to give a name. Cops called Westville to get a picture of the alleged escapee to try to confirm the identity of the driver. The Westville Prison Superintendent told them to go to AMW.com to check out his picture. For Butte cops, it looked like a slam dunk: their driver matched the picture on the AMW website.

As police detained "Fuller" they put him on a suicide watch because he would not volunteer his identity. Finally, to avoid all the extra attention, the driver admitted, "I'm Kelvin Fuller."

At the time of his arrest and the seizure of his car, cops in Butte say that Fuller had a BB gun, but thankfully he never tried to use it. Additionally, they found two bags of money from the alleged Fishers bank robbery in the car.

Fuller was extradited from Montana to Wyoming. When he finally gets back to Indiana, he will return to state prison while he awaits new charges, both for the escape and for the additional crimes tied to him after the escape. So far that list includes vehicle theft for stealing the Malibu; assault and robbery for beating up the bus driver and stealing her cash; assault and robbery for the Village Pantry clerk's battery in Anderson, Indiana; stealing the radio from an Anderson hospital; and a bank robbery in Fishers, Indiana.  He is first facing bank robbery charges in Wyoming.

United States Marshals deputies say they escorted Fuller to a hospital after he showed signs of alleged seizures on November 13, 2007.  Cheyenne authorities say that Fuller was about to be discharged from a Wyoming hospital when Fuller pulled a make-shift metal weapon on a nurse. 

Deputies with the Marshals Service were forced to use a taser to subdue Fuller.  He remains in custody and continues to face bank robbery charges in Wyoming.  The nurse was treated at the hospital and released.  Additional charges are expected to be filed for the nurse's assault.