Third Escaped Killer Is Captured as $20,000 Goes to Homeless Tipsters

The third of five killers who tunneled out of a prison last week was caught Wednesday in Miami.

The capture came a day after two homeless men living in a rural shantytown earned a $20,000 reward for telling police where to find two of the escaped inmates. Police killed one fugitive in the homeless camp and the other was captured unharmed.

On Wednesday, police Officer Jairo Lozano was on routine patrol in Miami’s Little Havana when he saw a man walking down the street who fit the description of 32-year-old Hector Rivas. He arrested him without incident.

The two homeless men had easily identified pictures of Armando Junco, 62, and Florencio Alvarez, 39, from a wanted poster.

Within minutes, dozens of law enforcement officers surrounded a cardboard lean-to. Junco was killed and Alvarez arrested. No officers were hurt.

The confrontation at the camp had been described as a shootout, but Doyle Jourdan of the state Department of Law Enforcement said the escapees did not have firearms, although unspecified weapons were found at the camp.

The five inmates, all serving life terms, escaped Jan. 2 from Glades Correctional Institution in Belle Glade by digging a 60-foot tunnel beneath the prison fence.

Still at large were Juan Fleitas, 30, and Jesus Martinez, 47.