7 Split Reward for Texas Escapees

Seven people split $425,000 in reward money Thursday for helping police capture seven Texas fugitives.

The seven inmates broke out of prison Dec. 13 and fled to Colorado, police said. Six were captured in late January on a tip from the owners of a mobile home park, where they had passed themselves off as a church group. One fugitive committed suicide.

The rewards were distributed privately because some recipients did not want to be identified. The reward size depended on what each recipient did.

Jim Heitzmann, a Colorado Springs restaurant manager who called police when he and his employees realized two of the inmates had left a van at the restaurant, said police have always encouraged him to report anything suspicious.

“If it’s nothing, don’t worry about it. Could turn out to be the Texas Seven too,” said Heitzmann, who plans to share the money with seven restaurant workers.

Hotel clerk Melissa Christenson called police when two of the convicts booked a room. Pictures of the seven had been posted at the front desk.