Escapee in custody after day on the run

Dyer

Judy Blosser, Aurelia Dyer's case officer at the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio, demonstrates how a loop in Dyer's body chain allowed her to choke a corrections officer. Dyer

STRYKER, Ohio - A petite female inmate accused of escaping after hitting, biting, threatening to kill, and choking to unconsciousness an officer taking her to a prenatal appointment in Toledo was back in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio here yesterday, just under 24 hours after she broke loose.

Aurelia Dyer, 21, of 642 City Park Ave., Toledo, was charged with felonious assault and escape after police apprehended her yesterday at a house on Fulton Street in the central city. She is to be arraigned today in Toledo Municipal Court.

"She nearly took the life of one of our corrections officers," Jim Dennis, executive director of CCNO, said.

Corrections Officer Lisa Osborne and Dyer were alone in a jail van about 1 p.m. Tuesday at St. Vincent Mercy Family Care Center, 2213 Franklin Ave., where Dyer, who is three months' pregnant with her second child, was to have a checkup.

Dyer

When Officer Osborne, who was unarmed, walked to Dyer's seat, Dyer attacked her, jail officials said. She choked Officer Osborne to unconsciousness three times with her restraint chains, punched her in the face, and bit her arm, telling her she would kill her if she didn't stop fighting, according to an arrest warrant.

Because they were in the van, no one heard Officer Osborne yelling for help, jail officials said.

Dyer used her restraint chain to choke the officer, jail officials said, because Dyer's petite build - she weighs 120 pounds - gave the chain more slack than it would have on most inmates.

When Officer Osborne was unconscious, Dyer stole a handcuff key and fled in stocking feet.

Officer Osborne called the corrections center and Toledo police from her mobile phone. She was treated at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.

Authorities from several agencies, including Toledo police and the corrections center, looked for Dyer at dozens of central-city residences. Among the houses they searched were those listed as return addresses on mail sent to Dyer in jail.

It wasn't until a family friend called the Crime Stopper program that police apprehended Dyer at 2464 Fulton St. at about 8:30 a.m.

Lee McCoy, a parolee who said he has known Dyer since she was a baby, said he persuaded her to surrender after he gave her breakfast.

"She was tired and hungry and cold. She wanted to turn herself in, but she was scared," he said. Dyer showed up at his Fulton Street home about 8 a.m. yesterday and "asked if I would call [the authorities], and I did," McCoy said.

It was the second time during her escape Dyer had been at McCoy's home, he said. The first time she showed up, shortly after she broke free, McCoy said he didn't know she was on the run.

She had shed her handcuffs, chains, and CCNO sweatshirt and was wearing red pants, a white T-shirt, and no socks or shoes, he said.

"She said she was in a fight with someone," said McCoy, who gave her clothes before she left. Later, he saw a news report that she had escaped from jail.

McCoy, who is on parole for a drug-possession conviction, said he immediately called authorities to let them know she had been at his home. On her second visit, when McCoy knew Dyer was wanted, he said he confronted her.

"She said she was having a lot of stress with people at Stryker. She was pregnant. She was on medication. It was stupid what she done," McCoy said.

He said Dyer told him she didn't choke the officer, she just pushed her before she fled. Dyer told him she asked the officer to loosen her cuffs because they were too tight, he said.

She went on to tell him, he said, that the officer loosened a leg and handcuff, and she snatched the handcuff key and fled, running down alleys and taking off the cuffs.

Dyer told McCoy she moved around from place to place in the 19 hours she was at large, he said.

Authorities at the regional jail said they would interrogate Dyer on why she escaped. It is the second escape from the corrections center since it opened in 1990. The other escapee in 2000 was apprehended two days later in Stryker.

Dyer was serving a 90-day jail sentence from Lucas County Common Pleas Court for forgery. She recently completed a 45-day sentence from Toledo Municipal Court for petty theft, drug paraphernalia, and disorderly conduct.

Contact Jane Schmucker at:

jschmucker@theblade.com

or 419-337-7780.