UPDATE: One of the escaped inmates, Cordarius Thomas, has been recaptured and is back in jail. The other three are still at large.
COAHOMA COUNTY, Miss. — Coahoma County Sheriff’s Deputies are searching for four inmates who broke out of the jail early Friday morning.
Deputies say LeAndrew Booker, Percy Bryant, Marquis Stevenson and Cordarius Thomas are all on the loose.
Three of them were facing charges from assault to burglary, but one of them, Marquis Stevenson, is accused of murder and statutory rape.
“I just want to say there are two sides to every story,” said Marquis Stevenson’s grandmother. “My grandson, he really is a good person.”
Marquis Stevenson’s family wanted to share why they think he was one of four inmates who decided to break out of the Coahoma County Jail.
“You don’t know his accusation,” said his mother Annette Stevenson. “You don’t know what he’s going through.”
Marquis’ mom Annette says the 26-year-old was working to become a truck driver and wanted to be a productive member of society.
“He just kept saying he was tired when they arrested him for the last charge, he just said he was tired.”
He was out on bond for a murder charge from 2014 before getting arrested about two weeks ago for statutory rape.
“He didn’t rape that little girl, that little girl came over to my house at 2 o’clock in the morning,” said his grandma Pearlie Haynes.
His family says a teenager falsely accused Marquis of rape and says they never had intercourse. They claim police have been looking for reasons to lock him up.
As for the murder he’s also charged with:
“He’s innocent until he’s proven guilty,” said his mom.
She says they last saw him Monday when his murder trial got delayed and says they’re not familiar with the three other inmates he escaped with.
Deputies say workers were doing a routine check of the inmates at the jail when they noticed around 1:35 in the morning, the four were gone.
“Have you heard from him?” WREG’s Bridget Chapman asked his mother.
“No, I have not,” she said.
“Do you have any idea where he may have gone?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just wish he’d come back home before they do something to him, that’s all I want him to do is turn himself in.”
Detectives are offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of each individual. If you have any information that can be helpful, you’re asked to call 662-645-9300.
