‘Every lawman’ looking for escaped inmates wanted for killing guards on prison bus

The reward is growing Wednesday morning for information leading to the capture of two Georgia inmates accused of killing prison guards.

“The reward stands at about $70,000 and growing,” Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said at 7 a.m. Wednesday. “We have nothing new.”

Sills said Ricky Dubose and Donnie Rowe broke into a house off U.S. 441 in Morgan County and left their prison clothes behind at about 10:30 - 11 a.m. Tuesday.

“They ransacked the house pretty thoroughly,” Sills said.

The command center for the investigation moved from Putnam to Morgan County after the burglary was reported, he said.

Sills does not believe the men are still near Madison or Eatonton, which is a relief for his community.

“I don’t think there’s much fear because they’re not here anymore,” Sills said.

Rowe is from Tennessee and Dubose has ties to northeast Georgia.

The sheriff dismissed a tip that they were spotted in a local store.

“I never confirmed that,” he said.

The dark green, four-door 2004 Honda Civic they hijacked on Ga. 16 early Tuesday has not been found.

The car has a Georgia license plate RBJ6601 and a red and black Georgia Bulldog tag on the front.

Law enforcement Facebook pages have plastered the inmates’ mug shots on social media.

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office posted an open letter to “Donnie and Ricky.”

“What is done is done,” the letter begins and asks the men to surrender.

“You made your escape, but you won’t be out long. Every lawman in the Southeast is looking for you. Every citizen in the Southeast is looking for you.”

The note tells the men: “There is no one you can trust… and nowhere you can go that we won’t find you. … “Why wait, spending hours and days looking over your shoulder and wondering when we will kick the door in.”

Tributes to the slain corrections officers Curtis Billue, 58, and Christopher Monica, 42, are posted on the Officer Down Memorial Page.

http://www.odmp.org/officer/23274-correctional-officer-christopher-monica

Billue was was with the Georgia Department of Corrections for 10 years and Monica had eight years of service.

This story was originally published June 14, 2017 at 6:24 AM with the headline "‘Every lawman’ looking for escaped inmates wanted for killing guards on prison bus."