FAYETTE COUNTY, Tenn. — Five young people who escaped from the Wilder Youth Development Center in Fayette County remain on the run Monday.
They were reported missing Saturday morning, and while their names are not being released, these young escapees have records of very violent crimes.
Bridget Brown lives about a quarter mile from the sprawling Wilder Youth Development Center in Fayette County near Somerville. Brown said Saturday morning deputies came “Door to door” in her neighborhood alerting residents.
“My concerns are basically who actually got out, what type of criminal got out,” Brown said. “To let everybody know to be on caution, to make sure their doors and car doors and everything were locked and to just be aware of their surroundings.”
The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office has stepped up patrols in and around the facility as the search continues.
“Our investigators are actively working (and) doing an investigation, trying to determine what happened and also trying to get these individuals back into custody,” Ray Garcia, Chief Deputy of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, said.
Wilder is operated by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. A DCS spokesperson would not identify the juveniles but said between them they have records of serious crimes, including second-degree murder, aggravated robbery and carjacking.
For Brown this is literally, “all too close to home,” she said in the past Wilder escapees have come right through her backyard and knocked on her side door, once when she was only ten-years-old.
“And I was about to answer the door and let him in, and he hollered out that he was a stranger at which time my mom grabbed me and closed the door and locked it up and about five minutes later our property was swarming with cops,” Brown said.
