Franklin City Neighbors

Convicted Killer Escapes Sherif's Department

Jul 23, 2002

Convicted killer, 24, escapes from jail
Man hid in crowd of exiting visitors, official says

By JESSICA HANSEN
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: Dec. 7, 2001

With a disguise supplied by his girlfriend, a man who fatally shot two men in June escaped from the Milwaukee County Jail on Thursday night as he slipped into a crowd of people leaving the building, authorities said.

Escapee
Photo/File
DeCarlos Martin Young, who fatally shot two men in June, escaped from the Milwaukee County Jail on Thursday night, the first escape at the facility since it opened in 1992.

Accomplice
Photo/File
Albertina Jackson was well-known at the Milwaukee County Jail. She had been ordered out once before and had been placed on a security watch list after trying to remove the seals from the bulletproof windows that divide inmates from visitors, sources said.

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What To Do

Anyone with information should call the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department at (414) 278-4867.
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Background: Convicted killer, 24, escapes from jail

Milwaukee County Sheriff Lev Baldwin talks to the media Monday for the first time after last week's escape of DeCarlos Martin Young from the Milwaukee County Jail. Young is still at large.

The escape was the first at the facility since it opened in 1992, said Capt. Sherry Weber, public information officer for the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department.

DeCarlos Martin Young, 24, discarded his orange County Jail jumpsuit about 5 p.m. Thursday and donned clothes and a wig given to him by his girlfriend, Weber said. The two then removed a plexiglass barrier before Young and his girlfriend joined a crowd of exiting visitors and walked out the front door of the County Jail, 949 N. 9th St.

"They found his orange jumpsuit right away," Weber said. "They saw him in the crowd and tried to chase after him, but just missed him."

While guards are not required to stay in visiting rooms with inmates or visitors, Weber said deputies "immediately" noticed during routine checks that Young had escaped.

Young apparently slipped out the front door, fled on W. State St. and disappeared.

Within minutes of the escape, sheriff's deputies and officers from the Milwaukee Police Department had swarmed downtown in the search for Young, who has been linked to the Murda Mobb, a Milwaukee rap group. At least one member of the group was suspected in several murders this summer in the Metcalfe Park area.

The Murda Mobb, which moved to Milwaukee in 1999, was originally founded in Chicago by Antoine and Akilah Crittenden, two brothers who were heavily involved with the Gangster Disciples in that city. The Gangster Disciples is a 30,000-member criminal organization with a strict hierarchy, 35-state influence and a thriving crack cocaine trade.

Shortly after the escape, groups of up to seven deputies combed a two- to three-block area downtown with flashlights searching for Young, while police questioned some of the nearly 100 people who had gathered for a meal outside St. Benedict the Moor church, 1015 N. 9th St.

Other officers alerted those inside the church of the escape, circulating Young's picture and asking whether anyone had seen the man since he fled, according to meal coordinators and patrons.

Within hours of the escape, Weber said "as many police and sheriffs as possible" had been dispatched throughout the city in an attempt to find Young, who while not known to be armed is considered dangerous.

Young was being held in protective custody in Pod 4-D, the jail's "most restrictive" cell block and a disciplinary area within the jail, Weber said.

Authorities feared Young could be harmed in the general jail population because of the "notoriety" of his crimes, she said.

Young was arrested this summer in the June 18 killing of LeHavre S. "Butch" Buck, 24, near the Metcalfe Park area.

According to a criminal complaint, Young admitted shooting Buck after Buck's companion, 27-year-old Maurice M. Gaillard, allegedly pulled out a gun and pointed it at Young.

Apparently trying to defend himself, Young fired at Gaillard. He then fired at Buck, Young said in the complaint, because he thought he also had a gun.

Young was to be sentenced in Jan. 10 for the killing of Buck. He faces up to 65 years in prison. Gaillard's death was apparently self-defense.

Despite being locked in the jail's "most restrictive" area, Young was allowed visitors, Weber said.

During visits, guards are not required to be in the room with inmates or visitors, Weber said. However, guards are supposed to be stationed at a work area on the same floor and check each visiting cubicle every half-hour - the approved length for a jail visit.

It was during one such routine check that deputies learned Young had escaped.

Also unclear was how Young and his girlfriend were able to go through security, traveling from the upper fourth floor to the ground level and out the door, without anyone stopping them.

Young timed his escape as visitors left for the evening. Although deputies spotted the fugitive as he was leaving, Weber said he was quickly absorbed into a "big surge of people" and authorities could not reach him.

However, when leaving, it is standard procedure for visitors to stand in line while deputies return locker keys and identification cards, Weber said.

On Thursday night, Weber said neither Young nor his girlfriend was apparently stopped at such a checkpoint.

"They're trying to figure out how that happened," Weber said.

A $5,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to Young's arrest, Weber said.

Young is 5-foot-8, about 210 pounds with black hair, brown eyes and a medium build. He also has a tattoo of a skull on his right forearm and another tattoo, "5 MC," on his left forearm.

Anyone with information should call the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department at (414) 278-4867.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Dec. 7, 2001.