McDonald deputies seek Arkansas escapee

McDonald County authorities are searching for a man who escaped from an Arkansas jail over the weekend and is believed to be in the southeastern portion of the county.

According to Gregg Sweeten, McDonald County undersheriff, authorities are searching for Nathan Richardson, 23, who escaped Saturday from the Newton County, Ark., Jail.

"We got a call Monday from Newton County, Ark., that he escaped on Saturday and had been dropped off in the Pea Ridge, Ark., area," Sweeten said. "They thought he was at a phone number in the Powell area. We traced that number down and it led us to a house, but the people there had gotten rid of that phone number a year ago. We then talked to the telephone company, and got where the number was currently at, and searched that house that evening."

The search didn't turn up Richardson, although people at the residence, neighbors of Richardson's mother, said he'd been there that afternoon. Deputies staked out the scene near Mountain in the far southeastern part of McDonald County through the night, but Richardson did not return. The following morning, his mother returned home, and authorities talked with her. As the mother does not have a home telephone, she uses the neighbors'.

"It didn't appear that he'd been back since the previous afternoon," Sweeten said.

The chief deputy said Arkansas authorities told him Richardson had climbed the fence in the jail's exercise yard, which is topped by concertina wire, a type of barbed or razor wire which is formed in large loops which can be expanded. This wire is commonly used to top chain link fences in jails and prisons.

Sweeten said Richardson was jailed on drug and stolen property charges in Arkansas, and is not believed to be armed and dangerous.

"He's just a young kid," Sweeten said. "There's nothing that's led us to believe he's armed or anything."

Richardson is described as being 5-foot-7, weighing 140 pounds, with short brown hair, brown eyes and a thin mustache. He has no tattoos, Sweeten said.

"He was last seen walking up the driveway of this house Monday afternoon," he said.

"He's not in any vehicle, unless he's commandeered one. And we haven't had any reports of that, nor of a vehicle that's been stolen."

If you have any information on Richardson's whereabouts, please contact the McDonald County Sheriff's Department at 223-4319.

Neosho Daily News