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"He roved from room to room,
restless and disturbed, and sniffed constantly about the walls which
formed part of the Gothic structure. ... like the inevitable dog in the ghost story, which always
growls before his master sees the sheeted figure..."
H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)
The Rats in the Walls
DRUMHELLER, Alta. (Canada) — What
couldn't be accomplished by high-tech thermal imaging devices, remote cameras and sound sensing
equipment in three days, a good old dog did in under two hours.
 Convicted
double-murderer Raymond John Tudor, 48, was discovered by police dog
"TAZ" and ferreted out of the masonry of his rather creative
hiding-place on Thursday. The killer had managed to confound
searchers for nearly eight weeks by living inside the ductwork and
walls ...of a prison.
The Villain
and the Great Non(?)-Escape
Tudor was jailed several years ago for robbing and murdering two
Calgary-area seniors in their homes—Ardie
Turner, 74, in 1994 and Bill Vomastic, 68, in 1995.
On March 26, 2002, Tudor simply vanished from the medium-security section
of Drumheller Institution, the Calgary-area prison where he was
sentenced to serve two life imprisonment terms with no chance of parole for at
least 20 years. Prison officials never found his escape route
nor any evidence of a security breach, but after weeks of extensive
searches at the 7,600-square-metre building had turned up nothing, they reluctantly
assumed that the criminal was again at large in Canada or the United
States.
Drumheller Institution, opened in 1967 at
Drumheller, Alberta, provides accommodation for 585 inmates. (Photo: Correctional
Service of Canada)
In reality, the clever crook had never left the compound but was
living in what prison officials described as "a convoluted system
of passageways," avoiding sophisticated detection equipment by
moving through air ducts and carefully-concealed holes, some as small as one
foot wide.
According to police spokesperson Darlene Haines, Tudor had access
to water and toilets in the evening after the building was shut
down. He had some food stashed, although it was unclear whether
an accomplice had been slipping him food or whether he had stockpiled a
supply before his escape.
"He did lose quite a bit of weight," said Ms. Haines.
Prison records show that on Thursday Tudor was about 40 lbs lighter.
Drumheller RCMP Cpl. Dave Mcrae, who led the search effort, added:
"I don't think there was any sleeping bags or anything, but it
was my understanding that he was more comfortable than just sitting on
a piece of sheet metal."
Also found in his five-foot by four-foot makeshift home was a bag
of cookies, a rope, a set of homemade pliers fashioned from bars, a
knife, a grappling hook and a bottle of Tums®.
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This isn't Tudor, nor is it anyone we know (thankfully).
We just thought he might convey the relative importance of
always having a bottle of Tums® handy.
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But enough about the bad-guy; let's find out about the hero of the day
(and how the giant can-opener fits in to this story).
The Hero
and the Great Find
 At
around the
same time that Tudor was first brought to Drumheller Institution and
presumably began scheming his great escape, a dark
little furball was born at BoDella
K9 Kennels in Cameron, Wisconsin (doggie photos courtesy of BoDella).
In the fall of 1997, RCMP Cpl. Bill Hamilton selected the Belgian
German Shepherd (Alsatian) "TAZ"
as his partner after noting that the K9 "displayed excellent
potential in the most important profiles: tracking, aggression and
retrieve drive."
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Ironically enough, in 1998 Cpl. Hamilton
also made the note about his new puppy partner:
"...his only weakness was persons search in
buildings. I believe this shortcoming will soon be
overcome with more job experience and maturity." |
At 5:45pm Tuesday evening, a prison employee spotted an unaccounted-for
inmate lurking under a piece of equipment in the facility's woodworking
shop. The employee told the unidentified inmate to come along,
but the man refused to leave the building and managed to disappear again
while the employee was summoning help.
Tipped off to the potential Tudor-sighting, officials instigated
another thorough search using all technology available to them including
infrared, listening devices, forklifts and a backhoe. But it wasn't
until the third day, Thursday at about 7:30pm, that they called in Cpl.
Hamilton and his five-old-year K9 partner.
Cpl. Hamilton describes: "Shortly after entering the room, I knew
(TAZ) had picked up something. He was over in one corner trying to
scale the walls, and I was satisfied he (Tudor) was up above him somewhere.
"The dog was basically trying to climb the walls to get to him."
 TAZ
had discovered Tudor hiding in the ductwork six meters overhead.
Officers climbed onto the roof of an office, sent in a camera to pinpoint
the fugitive's location, and then cut him out.
"Like a giant can opener, that's what they used to get him out,"
describes Cpl. Hamilton. "They cut the sheet metal that he was
lying on ... and he fell right through."
Correctional Service authorities were doubtlessly amused and
relieved at having the slippery escape-artist drop right in their lap.
But perhaps no one is as relieved as Sharon Orton, daughter of victim Bill
Vomastic. After
Tudor's escape earlier this year, Ms. Orton had feared that the killer
might come after her family.
"I've spent the last seven weeks with doors locked, looking over
my shoulder," she said on Friday, "and he's right under their
noses.
"I'm glad they finally found him, but this is a joke. It
says a lot for the penal system. They should have sent in the dogs a
long time ago."
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