Health center escapee found in Chicago
A fugitive who escaped the Elgin Mental Health Center a month ago was caught Friday afternoon on Chicago's South Side, police said.
Tolbert Walls, 31, whose last address was on the 9000 block of Colfax Avenue in Chicago, barricaded himself in the crawl space of a home on the 600 block of West 59th Street from about 9:45 a.m. until shortly after 1 p.m. Friday, the U.S. marshal's office said.
The home is believed to belong to a relative of Walls.
Efforts were made to secure Walls' surrender through negotiation, but when that failed, marshals stormed the home using pepper spray and Taser guns.
Walls surrendered and no one was injured in the incident.
Walls escaped Sept. 3 from the forensic unit in the mental health center, where he was being held because he had been found unfit for trial on an armed robbery charge.
Police said that with the assistance of Lisa Mack, 38, who claimed to be his sister-in-law, Walls secured a visitors pass and walked out of the center.
Mack later was charged with assisting his escape.
Walls previously had been convicted of the 1991 first-degree murder of a street gang member, for which he served 15 years in prison.