Bernadette Marse Tregre
February 3, 2009Remigius Coogen
February 5, 2009A Berwick woman is breathing easier knowing the Allen Parish Correctional Center escapee who carjacked her last week is back behind bars.
Within minutes of speaking by cell phone with her dad, who happens to be Arthur Duval, St. Mary’s homeland security director, Ellie Arthur LaCoste stood face to face with Daniel Reeder, 24, of Shreveport. The escapee was holding a knife, demanding she surrender her vehicle.
“I decided to get some breakfast at one of our convenience stores in Berwick, and when I pulled up to the door, I noticed a guy talking on a pay phone,” LaCoste said. “Something struck me that he wasn’t right – he was already very dirty, and it was barely after 8 in the morning.”
The day before, Reeder and two other prison inmates – Cecil Stratton, 29, of Berwick, and Troy Hargrave, 32, of Crowley – escaped from the correctional center.
“I went to school with Cecil Stratton, so frankly, I was keeping my eyes out for him,” LaCoste said. But she’d never seen the other two men.
“I got out of my car and went inside to get some breakfast,” she said.
As she exited the store, Reeder approached and asked for directions to the nearest Wal-Mart.
“He asked, ‘Can I get a bike there?’ and I said yes. Then he turned around, turned back and pulled out a knife,” LaCoste recalled.
“I was trying to decide what to do. Do I turn around and run back in the store and hope he doesn’t follow me and start stabbing people or taking hostages? Or do I just throw the keys at him? That’s what I did. I threw the keys and ran inside the store to have them call police,” she said.
Police later spotted Reeder in LaCoste’s GMC Yukon crossing over the Morgan City Bridge.
The vehicle was returned. Inside, LaCoste said it had cigarette butts, ashes and personal belongings, including his prison uniform and the knife he used.
“Today, I’m feeling good knowing that (the three escapees) are all definitely caught,” LaCoste added. “Now more than ever I am more alert … alert with situations and my surroundings.”
Her dad, who is also a former Berwick police chief, applauded his daughter’s quick-thinking.
“She realized she was in danger and did the smartest thing she could have done,” Arthur said. “If you’re in a similar situation, you should never get into the car. Your best bet is to stay in the public where people can see you and come to your aid.”
Reeder was arrested in Shreveport later in the afternoon.
Hargrave surrendered to a deputy in Iberville Parish last Wednesday. The Associated Press reported he told the deputy, “I’m cold, I’m hungry and I’m wet, and I’m willing to turn myself in.”
Stratton turned himself in to the U.S. Marshal’s Office in Lafayette Parish Friday night.
A 19-year-old prison guard has been booked with helping the three men escape from the privately-run state prison in Kinder, according to the Allen Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Jesse Jordan of Glenmora was held without bond after being booked Monday night on three counts of assisting escape and one of malfeasance in office. Jordan had worked at the prison since May 2008.
Authorities believe the prisoners may have escaped by cutting razor wire inside a fence and climbing over.
