For 2 Fugitives, Trouble Began After Prison Escape

The breakout itself was so flawless that prison officials still can’t figure out how Huntington Beach murderer Jeanette Lynn Hughes and a helpful prison guard were able to leave unnoticed a maximum-security facility in Southern California nearly two weeks ago.

But from there, the escape plan--what there was of one--quickly degenerated into a cross between “A Comedy of Errors” and “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” offering what police say was an almost textbook example of how not to flee from the law.

First, Hughes, 36, and her alleged prison guard accomplice, Cindy Marie Coglietti, 26, embarked on their escape just six days before Coglietti was to get her monthly paycheck of nearly $3,000.

Then, the duo spent nearly all the money they had on airplanes, taxis and motels as they hopscotched their way through the Southwest--stopping in Phoenix, Las Vegas and perhaps Dallas before planning possible jaunts to Denver and Louisiana, police said.

Along the way, they each committed a fugitive’s cardinal sin, contacting relatives who later tipped off police to their location.

Finally, Hughes and Coglietti wound up their travels in El Paso--a city where hordes of law enforcement agencies are based to guard against border crossings.

The two women, who prison officials say developed a close relationship during the time that Coglietti was assigned to guard Hughes as a high risk for escape, were apprehended Tuesday night at El Paso International Airport. They were playing cards and waiting for a relative to bring them cash.

The women said they were down to their last $3.

Law enforcement officials said that Coglietti had not even bothered to get a fake identification--a fundamental tactic among fugitives--and instead gave police at the airport her California driver’s license. Hughes gave an alias.

“They may have had some sensible plan in exposing themselves in all those airports and spending all their money, but it’s sure not obvious to me,” said Ross Dykes, the associate warden at the California Institute for Women at Frontera, near Chino in San Bernardino County.

Hughes was serving a term of 26 years to life for the murder of her husband.

She was arrested in 1984 not long after her lover and accomplice, Adam Salas Ramirez, fatally shot her husband, computer engineer James Hughes, then fled in the dead man’s car. Ramirez was supposed to switch cars, but realized he had left the keys to the getaway vehicle in another jacket. He was caught in the victim’s car just minutes after Hughes--thinking that he had already switched cars--called the police to report a break-in. Hughes and Ramirez had planned on collecting $442,000 in life insurance. Ramirez is serving 28 years to life in prison.

Federal agents have taken limited statements from Hughes and Coglietti, but officials say the full story of how Hughes managed to get out of the 2,500-inmate prison at Frontera on March 25--and what their subsequent plan was--may not come out until their trials.

The duo checked into a Motel 6 on the western fringes of the city, perhaps believing it would be too out of the way to draw any police attention, authorities said.

Although the women managed to elude detection at the Motel 6, said FBI Special Agent Terry Kincaid, they gave themselves away by telephoning family members and making desperate pleas for money. As happens with so many other fugitives, he said, the family members called police rather than risk becoming lawbreakers themselves by aiding a felon.

Their final mistake came in arranging to meet a relative with cash at the El Paso airport--one of the first places law enforcement officers look for fugitives, authorities said.

“They could have arranged to meet (the contact) somewhere else to see if they came alone,” said El Paso Police Detective Ed Camacho. “(But) when you’re on the run, you’re paranoid. And when you’re paranoid, you don’t think.”