BURLINGTON -- The Boone County jailer wants to know how a hacksaw blade made its way into a cell, helping two inmates make their way out.
The inmates used the blade to cut through three metal bars, then broke out a fourth-floor window and lowered themselves to the ground, Jailer John Schickel said.
"This is an obvious breakdown in security, which I take full responsibility for," he said. "Obviously, in this particular case, something went wrong, and we will investigate to find out what happened."
One escapee, Anthony Pike, 24, of Burlington, was found eight hours later, hiding under some insulation in the attic of his sister's house in Covington. Authorities were still looking later Monday for Kirby Peterson, 25, of Dayton, Ohio.
The jail is equipped with security cameras, Mr. Schickel said, and investigators also are checking into how workers monitoring them failed to see the escape taking place.
"We have good people here," he said. "But something went wrong."
Mr. Pike was arrested at 12:15 p.m. Monday after officers from the Boone County Sheriff's Department, U.S. Marshal's office and Covington police went to 828 Philadelphia St. Investigators turned up the address, Sheriff Mike Helmig said, after spending the morning interviewing relatives and others who might know Mr. Pike's whereabouts.
Mr. Pike was arrested and taken back to the Boone County Jail, where he was being watched closely, Sheriff Helmig said. He was charged with escape, a felony.
Mr. Pike was in jail on a parole violation, the sheriff said. Mr. Peterson was a federal prisoner who had recently been sentenced to prison for drug trafficking. He was awaiting transfer to a federal facility.
Monday's jailbreak took place a year after Northern Kentucky's last one, a similar escape in which inmates also used tied-together sheets. In that one, two cellmates were on the lam from the Kenton County Jail about three hours before they were arrested at Grant County Hospital in Williamstown.
They went there to get one treatment for his cut arm, but hospital workers became suspicious and called police.
They and a third man who also escaped -- he fell and was taken to University Hospital -- were prosecuted.
Last month, an apparent escape attempt at the Kenton County Jail in Covington was thwarted when an inside tip to deputies led to the finding of 14 sheets torn and braided together.
The alleged braider, who has since left the jail on bond, was fined $60 for ruining the sheets.
