Murderer Is Listed as Escapee : County Jail: Inmate whose absence was undetected for 25 days apparently went over the wall last month, sheriff’s officials say.

A convicted murderer whose absence went undetected for 25 days apparently escaped from Los Angeles County Jail last month after slipping his handcuffs while waiting for a jail bus and then scaling a security wall, sheriff’s officials said Tuesday.

Victor Castrellanos, a gang member serving a 32-year-to-life sentence, was officially listed Tuesday as an escaped prisoner after sheriff’s deputies failed to find him during an check of the County Jail system. He had not been seen since he was taken from his Hall of Justice jail cell on March 22, officials said.

Castrellanos, 32, had transferred in December from Folsom State Prison to the County Jail while his appeal of a 1986 murder conviction was being heard. But after Castrellanos failed to show up for three scheduled court appearances, sheriff’s deputies launched a search of the system’s 19,000 male inmates that ended late Monday night.

“He is not in custody. He is a confirmed escapee,” said Cmdr. Bob Pash of the sheriff’s custody division.

Pash said investigators have determined that Castrellanos escaped nearly four weeks ago as he was about to be taken from the Hall of Justice jail to the Inmate Reception Center in the Men’s Central Jail. Castrellanos had complained of a knee injury and was to receive medical treatment.

As Castrellanos waited at dusk for a bus with 19 other prisoners, he apparently slipped his handcuffs and rolled under the bus undetected, Pash said. It is believed that Castrellanos then hid in the yard and later climbed over a security wall, he said.

There was no indication that any deputy assisted in the inmate’s escape, Pash said. The Sheriff’s Department pieced together details of the escape after interviews with inmates and checks of computer records and other information.

“There was no willing complicity (by deputies), but we’re looking at procedures that were followed to find out why and how this could have happened,” Pash said, “and to determine how this could go undiscovered for (more than) 20 days.”

Castrellanos--who has used the aliases Victor Casrellanos, Victor Ramirez and Victor Rodriguez--was convicted of murder and attempted murder in a street gang slaying near Exposition Park in Los Angeles. A native of Juarez, Mexico, Castrellanos has an extensive criminal record in the Southland dating to 1980, sheriff’s officials said.

State Department of Corrections officials said Castrellanos was incarcerated under the name Victor Martinez-Rodriguez and was temporarily released to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department from Folsom on Dec. 8, 1989.