According to Marion County Sheriff Kerry Forestal, who spoke at a news conference on Wednesday, authorities in Indiana have detained the girlfriend of a mu*rder suspect who has been on the run since being unintentionally released from custody nearly a week ago.
Three warrants out of Minnesota have been issued for Kevin Mason, 28, including one for mu*rder in connection with a shooting that occurred in Minneapolis in 2021.
Mason was detained in Indianapolis on September 11 but was released from custody two days later due to a typing error. He requested a ride from his girlfriend Desiree Oliver, 29, and was picked up close to the jail, according to Forestal.
Oliver, a healthcare worker, gave Mason underwear, slippers, and a phone after she picked him up. Authorities had “been tracking that girlfriend ever since,” according to Forestal, and on Wednesday afternoon they took her into custody.
Oliver is being questioned by authorities, along with Chaznia Dawson, a 25-year-old woman who was present when Oliver was taken into custody.
As soon as Mason was let loose, Marion County police began a 24-hour manhunt, but they didn’t make the public aware of it for nearly a week in order to take advantage of the “quietness of the situation,” Col. James Martin said at a news conference Tuesday. Using stealth gave authorities a “tactical advantage,” Martin claimed, as a public search would have likely driven Mason deeper underground.
The public is now being urged to assist the police. If anyone sees Mason, Martin urged them to call 911 immediately because law enforcement “will not rest until he is captured.” We won’t skip a beat in our investigation. According to him, there is currently no information that leads the authorities to believe that the “public is in any immediate danger.”
Since it was discovered Mason was permitted to leave the detention facility, two jail record clerks have been fired, according to Martin. According to the sheriff, his staff members are overworked and underpaid, according to CBS Minnesota.
The manhunt follows a high-profile, two-week search for escaped prisoner and convicted mur*derer Danelo Cavalcante in Pennsylvania, which was successfully concluded on September 13 with the help of the public.
