Pulaski jail escapee was on the run in Macon four years ago after double homicide
As the manhunt for three of the still-at-large escapees from the Pulaski County jail entered its fourth full day Tuesday, it was unclear where exactly in Middle Georgia law enforcement officials were focusing their searches.
Two of the wanted men had been in the Hawkinsville lockup on murder charges.
Dennis Penix Jr., 28, and Tyree Williams Jr., 33, were awaiting trial in unrelated killings.
Authorities have said they and three other men broke out of the Pulaski jail on Hawkinsville’s north side late Friday after overpowering jailers and stealing one their minivans.
Two of the alleged escapees have since been caught in Houston County, but Penix, Williams and Brandon Pooler, 24, who has ties to Warner Robins, remained on the loose as of Tuesday afternoon.
All three of the fugitives have prison records.
Williams was released from Macon State Prison near Oglethorpe in August 2019 after serving a five-year sentence for aggravated assault and a firearms conviction in Pulaski.
Pooler, who once lived in the Elberta Road area in Warner Robins, served two years for a burglary conviction in Houston County, and got out of prison in November 2019.
Penix had been in the Pulaski jail since summer 2017.
He was arrested near downtown Macon in the wake of a double slaying in Pulaski.
Penix showed up at his brother’s house on High Street near the Sidney Lanier Cottage. He, at the time, was at the wheel of a new car and, as The Telegraph reported at the time, he had has girlfriend and her children in tow.
His brother called 911.
“I need the police to come fully loaded,” the brother told dispatchers. “But please, please, please, everybody be safe when you get here. ... He’s already advised me that he’s gonna try to run, and it’s not ... gonna be good.”
Penix ran when the cops came but was caught about two hours later at nearby Washington Park.
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 4:57 PM.