HILLSBOROUGH,N.C. (WTVD) -- A man convicted of shooting and killing a 1-year-old while she played with her new toys on Christmas Day in 2015 escaped custody Tuesday. Search crews combed over more than 500 acres, but he is still on the run.
Ramone Alston, 30, was about to receive care at UNC Hospitals Hillsborough Campus at 7 a.m. The sheriff's office said Alston managed to free himself from leg restraints while inside a North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (DAC) vehicle in the parking lot of the clinic.
"As they (the officers) pulled up to the back entrance of the hospital and as they were removing Mr. Alston from the vehicle, he broke away from the officers in the parking lot and ran to the woods," DAC Communications Director Keith Acree said.
DAC announced Tuesday afternoon that there was a $25,000 reward for information leading to Alston's recapture and that reward has been increased by $10,000.
Two officers were in charge of getting Alston out of the vehicle and into the hospital for treatment. Alston was here for a procedure from lockup in Bertie County.
Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said the two officers chased after Alston when he ran, but they were not able to keep up with him.
ABC11 asked why Alston was driven more than two hours away for treatment and investigators replied that UNC contracts with the Department of Adult Correction to provide care.
Who is NC prison escapee Ramone Alston? He's serving life for murder in the Christmas Day shooting death of 1-year-old Maleah Williams in 2015
Alston was wearing a gray T-shirt, brown pants and New Balance tennis shoes when he ran from the van. He was last seen with his hands still cuffed in front of him.
"Just at this point, until we learn otherwise, the most distinguishing feature is someone running with a belly chain and handcuffs with a black box," Orange County Sheriff's Office Communications Manager Alecia Stemper said. "If you see him, call 911 immediately. Do not approach."
A $25,000 reward was announced Tuesday afternoon in an update about the search for Ramone Alston.
Alston reportedly has friends and family living in the area. When asked if he thought Alston had help in his escape, Blackwood said "I suspect he probably did, yes sir."
The active search involved 114 people representing multiple agencies. They're covering 580 acres, which equates to about a mile around UNC Hospitals Hillsborough Campus.
"He's either within a five-mile radius or he's in the rest of the world, and we're searching both," Blackwood said.
Search crews said they were thoroughly searching neighborhoods and wooded areas near residential areas to make sure everybody living nearby was safe.
"Primary focus and real aim tonight is to reassure the community that it's not an active and emergent threat to them or their lives," Orange County Emergency Services Director Kirby Saunders said.
Authorities are focusing their search on areas near the Waterstone neighborhood and UNC Hospital in Hillsborough. The hospital released a statement, saying in part:
"UNC Hospitals Hillsborough Campus went on lockdown for a short time on Tuesday morning following the escape of a Department of Corrections inmate outside the hospital. The inmate fled from the hospital campus, and law enforcement immediately began searching for him. UNC Hospitals police worked with law enforcement to increase security at the Hillsborough campus. The lockdown was lifted around 8:30 a.m. The safety of our teammates, patients, and visitors is the top priority for us. We are grateful for our law enforcement partners' rapid response."
Because of the search, the Durham Technical Community College campus in Orange County was on lockdown.
Nancy Allen thought it was the landscaping workers that sent her dog Skipper into a tizzy on Tuesday morning.
"On Tuesdays, the landscape company comes and cuts the grass," Allen said. "So I'm back here taking down the (temporary) fence."
But she realized quickly this was a different crew roaming her backyard.
"All of a sudden. I was standing right there and the cops came and they had their weapons drawn. We're not talking handguns," Allen recalled Tuesday night. "They said, 'Where did he go?' And I'm like, 'Where did who go?'"
Deputies maintained positions through the evening along Old Highway 86 in and around Hillsborough.
Allen hopes the ordeal ends quickly so she can walk Skipper again with ease.
"I went out and took him for a walk, and the cop said 'Lady, take your dog back into your house and shut all the doors.' It's been a pretty stressful day," she said.
The search continued overnight.
Who is Ramone Alston?
Alston was convicted of shooting and killing 1-year-old Maleah Williams on Christmas Day in 2015. The shooting happened in Chapel Hill. Maleah's mother told ABC11 then that the children were outside playing with their Christmas toys and she was holding her daughter when someone started firing shots in the area. She was running from the area when she realized a bullet had struck Maleah.
"We don't have any added feelings about Mr. Alston, we're just displeased with the (Department of Public Safety) and their efforts to keep him in custody, or lack thereof. We wish Mr. Alston and his family nothing but peace, blessings, and prosperity," Maleah's father Shaquille Williams said in a statement Tuesday.
Williams added that the thing that bothered him was that "somehow, he got out of his leg shackles."
Alston and another man, Pierre Je Bron Moore took a plea deal in 2019. Alston received a life sentence for the child's murder and Moore received 28 to 34 years.
ABC11 uncovered that Alston recently tried to get his sentence lightened. Records show Alston filed a motion for appropriate relief in October 2023.
The 20-page document goes through the evidence and facts of his case. In the document, Alston claims the state used misleading evidence in its case. The motion was denied in May, with a judge saying Alston had a fair, full hearing and the claims in the motion for appropriate relief lacked merit.
Other escapees in North Carolina
According to DAC, there are 33 escaped inmates on the run from custody in North Carolina.
The most recent escapee is Alston. The longest at-large escapee is Eddie Leonard. He escaped on March 26, 1962. Leonard was in prison on first-degree burglary charges.
Of the 33, all but two escaped in the 1900s. Alston and Delfino Juarez are the only DAC inmates to escape in the 21st century who have not yet been apprehended. Juarez escaped Sept. 30, 2000.
Because of the length of time since many of the inmates escaped, DAC said it was not sure how many of the 33 escapees are still alive.
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