Escaped prisoner captured, police say

Escaped prisoner captured, police say

IONIA, Mich.

A convicted killer who peeled a hole in two fences with his hands to escape from a Michigan prison before abducting a woman and fleeing to Indiana was captured Monday evening after a chase, authorities said.

Officials were stunned by the brazen escape Sunday night of Michael David Elliot, who had a record of good behavior during his 20 years in custody. He wore a white kitchen uniform to evade security and blend in with snow at the Ionia Correctional Facility in western Michigan, prisons spokesman Russ Marlan said.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Ron Galaviz said Elliot was captured in LaPorte County after a police chase.

Former second lady Joan Mondale dies

ST. PAUL, Minn.

Joan Mondale, who burnished a reputation as “Joan of Art” for her passionate advocacy for the arts while her husband was vice president and a U.S. ambassador, died Monday. She was 83.

Walter Mondale, sons Ted and William and other family members were by her side when she died, the family said in a statement released by their church. The family had announced Sunday that she had gone into hospice care, but declined to discuss her illness.

“Joan was greatly loved by many. We will miss her dearly,” the former vice president said in a written statement.

An arts lover and an avid potter, Joan Mondale was given a grand platform to promote the arts when Walter, then a Democratic senator, was elected Jimmy Carter’s vice president in 1976.

Carter named her honorary chairwoman of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities, and she frequently traveled to museums, theaters and artist studios on the administration’s behalf. She lobbied Congress and states to boost public arts programs and funding.

Knox judge subject of investigation

MILAN

Italy’s justice minister on Monday announced an investigation into comments to the Italian media made by the judge who read the guilty verdicts against Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

Annamaria Cancellieri said in a one-line statement that she has asked the inspector general to make a “preliminary assessment” of the remarks published by two Italian newspapers over the weekend.

The newspapers quoted Florence judge Alessandro Nencini as saying, among other things, that Sollecito’s decision not to testify on the witness stand deprived the defendant of a voice. The judge also commented on the difficulty of reaching a verdict, due to the vast amount of evidence as well as the intense media attention, and acknowledged that assigning a motive for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher was one of the most “controversial” aspects of the case.

Company driver kills manager, self

VANCOUVER, Wash.

A paint-company driver fatally shot a company manager and then killed himself Monday at a business park in this southwest Washington city.

Police found the manager, Ryan E. Momeny, 45, lying dead in front of the Benjamin Moore Paint distribution center, police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said. Robert R. Brown, 64, a company driver, was found inside a vehicle in the parking lot, dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Kapp said.

Police continue to investigate but are not looking for anyone else in the shootings, Kapp said in a statement late Monday.

Associated Press