Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 11, 1993 TAG: 9308110170
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Short
James Douglas Dowdy, 24, of Alleghany Trailer Park in Merrimac, was serving 25 months for various traffic violations and driving while his operator's license was suspended.
On May 31, Dowdy was cleaning an area outside his cell and was last seen between 11 p.m. and midnight. As a trusty, Dowdy had access to the outdoors and had worked outside the jail washing cars without any problem, a jail official said in June.
Dowdy was discovered missing at bed check early June 1.
Members of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, including its newly formed tactical response team, spent the day combing the Merrimac-U.S. 460 area near the Christiansburg limits.
Acting on a tip, the team went to a home in the 3000 block of Ramble Road in Blacksburg. The property owner gave permission to search the house and Dowdy was found in the basement under a mattress.
His trusty privileges were revoked.
Dowdy faced a maximum sentence of a year for misdemeanor escape. The four months he received will be served in addition to the time he already was serving.
by CNB