Around an hour before midnight an inmate at the Webster County Jail propped open a third story window and used bed sheets to climb to the ground in the alleyway below.
The inmate, identified as 43 year old Jordan Meffferd of Fort Dodge, had been held on an assortment of felonies and misdemeanors, including first degree theft, third degree burglary, and third degree criminal mischief.
Police canvassed the area and found Mefferd’s jail uniform. A K9 tracking was then performed, but the trail ran cold close to the intersection of First Avenue S. and S. Eighth Street.
Using the city’s street cameras, police identified a suspect vehicle, a silver Chevrolet Impala.
At approximately 1:15 in the morning, the Impala was spotted by an officer on patrol in Otho. When the officer attempted a traffic stop, the vehicle sped off.
After a pursuit, stop sticks were deployed which damaged the Impala’s tires. The pursuit then continued at a slow speed until the vehicle came to a stop in the 100 block of S. 14th St. in Fort Dodge.
Two suspects were taken into custody. The escaped inmate Mefford, and a female passenger, 27 year old Destiny Sumpter.
Sumpter faces charges of aiding and abetting a felony escape, and violating probation. Mefford now faces additional charges of felony escape, and felony eluding.
