Escaped jail inmate in northern MN captured after two-week search
Michael Hart (Supplied)
(FOX 9) - Authorities have arrested a man who escaped a northern Minnesota jail workhouse after a two-week-long search.
Escapee arrested
What we know:
The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office says Michael Hart, 40, was arrested at a home in Cohasset on Tuesday.
Deputies searched the home after getting a tip that Hart was back on the Iron Range, officials say. Hart was found hiding beneath a basement stairwell. Deputies say Hart refused to cooperate and assaulted deputies at the scene.
The backstory:
The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office reported Hart had escaped on Sept. 23, from the Northeast Regional Corrections Center, a farm workhouse about 15 miles northwest of Duluth in rural New Independence Township.
A warrant filed two days later stated he was being held at the workhouse on a burglary and domestic abuse case. According to those charges, Hart was accused of forcing his way into an apartment in Hibbing and attacking two people, one of whom was his on-and-off girlfriend, with a chainsaw wrench. The attack ended when Hart was shot by the other apartment resident. Hart was found later at the Itasca hospital with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
On Sept. 23, deputies say Hart texted two numbers and told them, "meet at spot" shortly before walking outside before recreation. Staff noticed Hart was missing when conducting a count more than two hours later.
Woman also taken into custody
Local perspective:
Deputies also arrested a 29-year-old woman at the home for aiding an offender.
Both suspects are being held at the Itasca County Jail, awaiting arraignment.