Escaped Rapist Hunt Intensifies; Texas Town Is ‘Running Scared’
A manhunt for a barefoot fugitive convicted of rape and accused of murder intensified Friday as law enforcement agencies rotated fresh shifts of armed searchers into the small East Texas town where he was last seen.
No one has reported sighting Jerry McFadden, 38, since about 10:40 p.m. Thursday, when the woman hostage he forced to accompany him from the Upshur County jail in Gilmer, 15 miles away, took advantage of an unfriendly dog to break free.
Upshur County Sheriff Dale Jewkes said McFadden had hidden with the hostage, Rosalie Williams, 24, the sheriff’s dispatcher, in a railroad boxcar for about 16 hours.
McFadden decided to look for water late Thursday night and was confronted by a mean dog, Jewkes said. Williams and McFadden ran in different directions.
Williams, who suffered scrapes and bruises, was released from a hospital Friday.
The manhunt left many in this normally quiet town worried.
“We usually drop our (car) keys in the floorboard, leave our purses in the seats,” resident Carolyn Davis said. “We never lock the doors. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Big Sandy like this. Our little town is running scared.”
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