Hope Mills man who escaped from Central Prison captured, Cumberland County sheriff says
RALEIGH. N.C. (WTVD) -- Law enforcement captured an accused murderer who escaped from Central Prison in Raleigh on Friday afternoon.
Chad Lee Houser, 37, of Hope Mills escaped from the prison around 5 p.m., according to Cumberland County Sheriff Ennis Wright.
Just after 7 p.m., Wright said Houser had been captured and is in law enforcement custody.
Houser was awaiting trial at Central Prison in Raleigh after being arrested and accused of first-degree murder on July 1, plus charges of child abuse and fleeing arrest. His arrest records state that he was arrested on multiple occasions including charges of assault, larceny, burglary, drug possession and forgery.
Originally, Houser was a Cumberland County detainee. He was transferred to the Raleigh prison because he was in need of medical care at the prison's health facilities. Not long after he was recaptured, Houser began to complain of medical issues once again.
"That's why he went to Central Prison (after his arrest on July 1) was because he complained of chest pains," explained Cumberland County Sheriff's Lt. Sean Swain. "So we moved him up there because Central has a medical facility in it. So we had him up there for that. And now he's having chest pains again."
While ABC11 does not know how Houser escaped from prison, we do know how he was captured so swiftly. Houser stole a 2017 Chevy Silverado truck with a "Simply 1 Electric" that was equipped with an OnStar tracking device which law enforcement used to track him to an ABC Liquor Store in Spring Lake.
Once Houser is checked out again medically, he will be facing even more charges upon his return to lock-up. The Department of Public Safety plans to seek escape charges, while also launching an investigation into how he managed to break out of Central Prison. Central is the state's highest-level custody prison -- where inmates are closely-watched and have high restrictions in their movement.
