2 Virginia jail escapees go unnoticed for 26 hours after fleeing

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Two men escaped from a jail in Virginia over the weekend, including one charged in the killing of a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy last year.

Alder Marin-Sotelo, 26, escaped from Piedmont Regional Jail in Farmville, Virginia around 1 a.m. on Sunday, FBI officials said Monday. He is charged in the August 2022 murder of a sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina.

He left the jail in a red or burgundy Ford Mustang, the FBI said, and was gone for more than 24 hours before guards noticed he was missing, jail officials confirmed. The other escapee, Bruce Callahan, 44, had been held at the jail on drug charges, the sheriff’s office said. Authorities have not said whether the two escapes are related.

FBI, US MARSHALS LEAD SEARCH FOR 'DANGEROUS' INMATES WHO ESCAPED FROM VIRGINIA PRISON

A man charged in the death of a North Carolina deputy escaped from jail with another inmate.

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Jerry Townsend, superintendent of the Piedmont Regional Jail, told WRAL-TV that jail staff noticed the two men were missing around 3 a.m. Monday, some 26 hours after Marin-Sotelo escaped.

Marin-Sotelo is charged in the killing of Wake County Sheriff's Deputy Ned Byrd, who was shot while on duty after he stopped along a dark stretch of road late at night. He was found dead outside his vehicle with his police dog still inside. Marin-Sotelo's brother, Arturo Marin-Sotelo, is also charged in Byrd's killing.

The escapee investigation was turned over to the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service since the men were federal detainees with no affiliations to the area or local charges, the sheriff’s office said. The FBI said in a news release that digital billboard images of Marin-Sotelo have been put up across Virginia and North Carolina.