Not everything was so comfortable and secure in the old days when he was on the rampage as his style of pilferage within the community was most unique and high profile to say the least. Leaving a long trail of misdeeds and collateral damage, it was clear that this criminal will go down in New Mexico history as one of the baddest bandito in the southwest. Prisons were unable to keep him off the streets as he repeatedly found ways to compromise the security of the prison he is being held and find a secret back door to temporary freedom.
Robert Earl Davis was considered to be one of the most manipulative, yet intelligent inmates New Mexico has incarcerated for quiet some time now. He has acquired a reputation of being sly and cunning like a fox as his mind was always going a broadband speed to process new ways to beat the prison system and find a hole in the security placed around him. Working around this man was a never ending routine of non-routine thinking and outmaneuvering his every move and every moment to beat you at whatever the task at hand was to be done. Escorting this man from one point to another was a challenge in itself as he had already calculated how he could beat you in making a dash for the door or unleash his restraints to show you he can get loose anytime he wants or escape out of confined areas whenever he saw an opportunity to do so.
So who is this man Robert Earl Davis you might ask and why is he in prison doing so much time and how did he become such a public enemy number one on the wanted lists in the past. The answers aren't that simple as he is actually quiet a complicated man. His mind is sharp and his eyes don't miss a single detail when left in a room, a vehicle or strapped into a chair. Not a quiet man per se, he was always engaged in some kind of challenge or verbal conversation where he was probing your responses for weakness in tone, tremble in voice to show fear or just to see if your were experienced enough to handle his tests of the environment. Indentifying this man's character, one could not help but notice his methodical and meticulous manner of handling matters with such detail, you would disturb him if you messed with his legal papers, his clothing or any personal belongings.
Davis, a former Albuquerque police detective, has a long history of felony behaviors. Records reflect Davis was fired from the Albuquerque Police Department sometime in the middle of the 1970's when his character and integrity came under suspicion and investigation for burglarizing the very homes of the burglary suspects he was arresting. in the mid-1970s when he came under investigation for burglarizing the homes. In 1976, Officer Davis was arrested in a stolen car and in possession of drugs. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 5 years which was changed to probation by then District Attorney Steve Schiff. Schiff made a statement that clearly illustrated his undoubting lack of knowledge who he was dealing with at the time as he said "Robert Earl Davis was unlikely to repeat such an offense." In January, 1, 1981, Governor Bruce King, pardoned Robert Earl Davis for his earlier offenses, some committed while he was still a police officer. The governor was unaware that Davis and other former officers had begun a lengthy crime spree that detectives said covered seven states and involved hundreds of robberies and burglaries. It wasn't much later after DA Schiff said that Davis was unlikely to commit other crimes when Davis was charged with operating a crime ring with three other APD officers fired in the 1970s for ripping off people they arrested. As the investigations continued and more information surfaced, his participation in other crimes suspected and the extend of the vast area that he covered during these rampages of felonious transgression, it became apparent he was also committing these crimes outside the state of New Mexico as more information was gleaned showing his involvement in a lengthy crime binge involving the crossing of at least seven state lines and what amounted to a guess that it he and others with him may have committed hundreds of robberies and burglaries.
Robert Earl Davis was also a suspect in several 1970's homicides. Davis and his four former police partners committed crimes best described to be an admitted 6-year, multi-state crime spree, involving more than $1,000,000 in losses. The over-1,000 crimes they committed included robberies, auto theft, homicides, and drugs. Davis was sentenced to 691 and ½ years in front of six different venues of judges creating what appeared to be a life sentence without parole to serve. This time, Robert Earl Davis was sentenced those 14 years and the governor rescinded the pardon. The mannerism this man possessed should have been an indicator of the levels of risk he was willing to take. Sentencing a man to infinite imprisonment creates a state of mind that shows no regard for the rational or logical thinking of ever achieving the hope or desire to be a free man ever again.
These sentences, basically a death sentence or life to be spent in prison, was the beginning of a string of events that reflect he personality of a pure anti-social personality as well as a man wiling to take risks to be free again, if it was for just a little while. Profiling this man must include the trait of narcissism as it fits his personality to the letter.
Robert Earl Davis is a man who must be recognized as a person with high intellectual capacities and multiple success stories in his trade or profession. His ability to succeed for considerable periods of time illustrates his ability to seek the thrill and pleasure in fulfilling is own desires, wishes and accomplishments. It is likely a man such as this is not yet finished completing the task to accomplish something else either never dared before or thought of in the mind of a sociopath or psychopath. Hence it is his risk taking qualities that maintain a high level of concern for those responsible to watch and supervise him.
Born on October 10, 1948, he is currently serving time in the California prison system where he has been housed since his escape from the Penitentiary of New Mexico, Santa Fe, on July 4, 1987. He has been erroneously released back a few years ago but is now still doing time between Pelican Bay and Folsom prisons. One of the things to look at when discussing Robert Earl Davis was his behaviors. Qualities that pop out about him as observed by someone who had to watch him sixteen hours a day while he was incarcerated in the penitentiary of New Mexico Santa Fe North Unit were likely to follow a format that consisted of consistent failures to conform to social norms or in this case, prison norms. His deceitful and manipulatveness was a red flag for anyone supervising him especially his pathological lying which demonstrated his shallow and callousness towards others. It is likely that Robert Earl Davis fits the profile of a psychopath much more than a sociopath, in the opinion of those around him.
Added qualities of his conduct indicated poor behavioral controls and leeching off others lifestyle that gets him what he wants or needs. Since he lacked the resistance to impulsivity and was very irresponsible in his mannerism, he often blamed others for his mistakes and created an inability to plan far enough away to deal with the long term goals rather than settling for those quick short term goals. His criminal versatility must be respected as he was able to fabricate or shape items of the least suspected value into homemade hand cuff keys or devices to alter or breach locks or restraints. Unfortunately, it was this same behavior that drew him to others possessing either the same or opposite qualities to draw more energy from each other creating an evil setting for anyone to work in or be exposed to without danger.
Taking a paragraph out of a descriptive notation from the North Carolina Wesleyan College faculty webpage that fits Robert Earl Davis's personality, I couldn't resist copying it here to illustrate effectively what type of person this man really is. These individuals do not respond to punishment, apprehension, stress, or disapproval. They seem to be able to inhibit their antisocial impulses most of the time, not because of conscience, but because it suits their purpose at the time. Words do not seem to have the same meaning for them as they do for us. In fact, it's unclear if they even grasp the meaning of their own words. " They don't follow any life plan, and it seems as if they are incapable of experiencing any genuine emotion. They are risk-takers, but are also more likely to be stress-reactive, worriers, and guilt-prone. They expose themselves to more stress than the average person, but they are as vulnerable to stress as the average person. They are daring, adventurous, unconventional people who began playing by their own rules early in life. They are strongly driven by a desire to escape or avoid pain, but are unable to resist temptation. As their anxiety increases toward some forbidden object, so does their attraction to it. They live their lives by the lure of temptation.
On June 19, 1982, while a prisoner at the Torrance County jail, Robert Earl Davis assisted serial murderer, Thomas Wayne Crump, to escape from this jail. Escapee Thomas Crump used a car owned by Davis's wife, in exchange for a promise that Crump would kill Davis's enemies on the outside. It was alleged that those former cops he committed those crimes with along with some of the judicial officials involved, had become targets for Davis while he was sitting in prison. This man, cruel destroyer, born in 1940, Thomas Wayne Crump was identified to be one of America's serial killers as he has been connected to many crimes as a lethal stone cold killer and drifter who left his deadly foot prints across America in the 1980s.
Convicted in Albuquerque, New Mexico, of killing his second wife, a cab driver, and a Minnesota tourist, Crump was already serving life on those counts when he confessed to an October 1980 murder in Las Vegas. Jodie Jameson, 25, had been working for a local "escort service" when she died in a sleazy motel, strangled with a torn pillow case, her body left in the bathtub. Convicted and sentenced to die on the basis of his own confession, Crump has also confessed to seven other slayings, seven attempted murders, plus an unspecified number of robberies, assaults, and kidnappings. As the story was told, on October 4, 1980, the body of Jodie Jameson ("Jameson") was discovered in a motel room bathtub in Las Vegas Nevada with her arms and legs were tightly bound. A loosely fitting pantyhose. ''ligature made from thin knotted strips of torn
pillowcase fabric was found around Jameson's neck''An autopsy revealed the with a cause of death to be ligature strangulation. In a videotaped confession received into evidence during the guilt phase of the trial, Crump confessed that he killed and robbed Jameson because he believed that she had robbed him. In his I''videotaped confession, Crump stated "I told her she could take [the money] to I snapped'¤ No crime of murder, of violence is justifiable,''didn't have nothin' but in my estimation it was - hell with her. She deserved what she got, I don't I could have obtained my money''I just wanted to kill''feel no remorse over it'¤ I premeditated.''without killing her and I did. I knew I was going to kill her In a second videotaped confession received into''It's an eye for an eye'¤" '' evidence during the death penalty phase of his trial, Crump spoke at length about the multiple crimes he had Crump confessed he had committed seven murders; committed during his life. Seven attempted murders; and innumerable robberies,'' assaults and Crump additionally confessed he had participated in a prison kidnapping, uprising in which a prison guard had been taken hostage and killed. In''He had also escaped from a New Mexico jail. stated:''this videotaped confession, Crump "I would escape if you give me the opportunity; '‰time is nothing'¤ Penitentiary I'd hurt''time doesn't affect me at all; '‰If I was to get out of here today, somebody today; '‰and I would like the death penalty because I deserve I don't it'¤ On April 24, 1984, the jury convicted Crump of''want to hurt nobody else. first degree murder and robbery, both with use of a deadly weapon murder conviction, the jury found three aggravating circumstances. The first one was the murder committed by a person who had a previous conviction for another murder or felony involving use or threat of violence to another person. The second was the murder was committed while the person was engaged in the after committing a robbery and third aggravating''commission of or flight circumstance to warrant the death penalty was the murder involved depravity of mind. The jury found no mitigating circumstances and sentenced Crump to death.
The record was reflecting back to Robert Earl Davis, who was the Torrance County jail because of overcrowding in the state prison system. He was charged with aiding the escape of Thomas Wayne Crump, who shot and killed a taxi cab driver while a fugitive. Davis was acquitted of aiding the escape, but convicted of having a pistol in the jail. Shortly after that jail break, the county started building a new detention center that was built by Corrections Corporations of America and that contained some of the most modern security devices installed in prisons or detention center at the time.
In January 1985, Robert Earl Davis and four other inmates escaped from the medium security prison in Los Lunas by hiding in the back of a rental truck driven by a former prisoner. Davis pulled a38 caliber pistol on a guard and rode out of the prison in a secret compartment in the back of the truck. He was arrested several days later in Paradise Hills after he shot at an Albuquerque police officer. In May 1984, Davis was sentenced to four years for possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner, while in the Torrance County Jail. In October 1985, Davis was sentenced to 17 1/2 years for his escape from the Los Lunas prison in 1984. In February 1988, he was sentenced to 6 1/2 years to run consecutive to his current sentences. He was charged with assault on a police officer for his escape shoot out in Paradise Hills where a sniper was chosen to "take him out" if the need arises to contain him during that shootout.
I had met Robert Earl Davis frequently in my role as a correctional officer on death row and the high security disciplinary pods located in the North Unit Housing unit 3 A and 3 B. This man was a constant headache as he was always deliberately trying to tangle things up to confuse staff and make them take an exception to what he wanted to do or what he was directed to do. Not a lazy worker, he often volunteered to get out of his cell as a porter but suspicious as we were, even back then we knew he was plotting and scheming something to break out of this new maximum security facility designed for individuals just like him. Davis was constantly going to the law library as he was always working on his legal case or those of others. His mind was sharp and he knew the intricacies of the justice system to find loopholes, exceptions, case law and had great writing skills thus his work was in heavy demand for those housed down there in the pods with him. Remembering all those times he had a binder or legal pad in his hand, he deliberately cluttered his paperwork so that we would be discouraged to look through it for contraband. If he thought you were getting close to something he was hiding he would make a ruckus and asked to be taken back to his cell.
In fact part of his plan was to deliberately start the check out process all over blaming staff for not taking him or "missing his turn" to go to the law library and asking other staff for another chance to go as he picked and chose those who would not inspect his paperwork or conduct the strip search of his person as required whenever a max inmate goes out of the pod to another location. His deliberate manipulation of officers and supervisors gained him the notoriety of being cunning like a fox. His uniform was always neatly pressed. His compulsive obsessive disorder showed how he walked, how he set his cell up and how he handled his writing materials and other stuff.
There have been times when we would pair up on him just to ensure his hands were not quicker than our eyes. One would stand and observe his hands, his mouth and his body while the other searched his clothing, his property and his mouth to ensure he was not smuggling anything out of the pod or into the pod. A man such as this also often required the viewing of the third guy up on top who could see the strip cage where it was and ensure nobody missed a thing. It is likely he could sneak things in better than going out. This was an important fact to remember as the matter was brought up later to be a serious deficiency of the unit at large.
Davis was in the North Unit for one reason and one reason only. His ability to find structural, operational and strategically weakness of a facility was impressive and he needed as much close supervision the state could provide to keep him from escaping again. The unit was brand new as we all worked overtime to move these characters from the old Cellblock 3 at the Main unit to the new SuperMax unit. the North unit was the pride and joy of the agency as it was bragged this was a super prison that was impossible to escape from because of its computer controlled devices, surveillance cameras and state of the art sensors and fence alarms. The fact that this unit would be tested would be just a matter of time as there were hundreds of inmates housed there that were certainly capable of making an attempt to go over the fence or break on through to the other side away from the lights and razor wire.
There was an overflow of protective custody inmates who had testified against other inmates after the riot and required protection for they had hefty contracts out on them from both gangs. Some individuals who were convicted of additional crimes during the riot and received supplementary time to serve consecutive to their original sentences and many were sent out of state. Lockdown inmates only come out for one hour a day in those days. They could either get an hour for recreation or take a shower. The choice was theirs. Their meals were delivered by staff as was the general clean up by staff as well. The routine became engrained into the mind so it was almost automatic and routine. Their confinement orders required the delivery of three meals a day unless it was the weekend and then they received two meals and a hot cup of coffee or glass of cold milk.
Inmates living in the Death row pod and disciplinary holdings are treated with maximum caution as they continuously demonstrate reckless and risky behavior by assaulting staff every chance they get when outside their cells or when the food trap is opened to serve them a meal or other items. I was shocked to see a ping pong table inside the pod area where they exercise by themselves when the weather is bad outside. It was always unexplainable why there was a ping pong table when only one could come out at a time to exercise. Serving the meals could be an adventure in its own way. A game of cat and mouse between the officer and inmate, one must be quick and efficient to serve a tray without wearing it on your uniform and serve the drink (especially the hot coffee) without it coming back at you ruining your day and tempting to ignore this inmate for the rest of the shift if not week.
This job is not for the weak or weak minded. There are gross situations that occur daily which will turn your stomach and make you puke. The psychological and physical resistance is altered to new thoughts and new levels of acceptable and non-acceptable behaviors. Slowly, the pattern of day in and day out working in a penal institution draws more energy from your body and mind, than one might have expected. Robert Earl Davis was one of those inmates who would test your stamina and endurance daily with his own strategies and cunning ways to seek a weakness in your routine.
You are tested to the periphery of misconduct daily and as the inmates taunt you into committing a violation or misdeed, your focus has to be on doing your job the way you were taught and decline to engage into the sub cultural and Neanderthal behaviors common in prisons. Here, physical strength is boldly demonstrated by the gladiators and mental energy is slung like a lightning bolt of words to alter your ego, spirit and intensions. Taking the advice of others, you counter their negative energy maintain your physical strength as you take advanced correctional courses from an online distant learning college to sharpen your mind. Consistency pays off and inmates are beginning to read you and determine whether you are a formidable foe or someone they can manipulate.
The memory is still very clear of that Thanksgiving day in Santa Fe, 1986 in New Mexico history when Governor Tony Anaya commuted the death sentences of five murderers housed at death row in the North Unit maximum custody pods. His actions created a scene within the pod where these ruthless killers lived of celebration and at the same time, a time of confusions as they have been locked up for quiet some time now and didn't want to take the news for granted. Being let lose and off the collar to the death house by the outgoing lame duck governor, was a special Thanksgiving holiday for those five as I can remember their faces when I went down there to serve them their dinner and drinks.
My friends upstairs in the control room kept saying "don't take it personal" they will screw up again and be locked down again. The television stations were all over it. In a personal statement to the press the governor said "My personal beliefs do not allow me to permit the execution of an individual in the name of the state." Mumbling under our breath, we feared these guys would try to escape and commit their crimes again as they have done before.
Anaya, a Democrat limited serving a term limit of four years, he added "For me to simply walk away now will make me as much an accomplice as others who would participate in their execution." History reveals New Mexico was an uneasy death penalty state 20 years ago. There hadn't been an execution there since 1960 and Anaya had made it clear that he would sign no death warrants on his watch, calling executions "inhumane, immoral and anti-God." But he was forced to stand by with gritted teeth as his newly elected successor, Republican Garrey Carruthers, promised to accelerate the pace of capital punishment. Carruthers said "The first thing I want to see on my desk after I'm elected governor is the paperwork necessary to restart the death penalty." So Anaya trumped Carruthers' tough-on-crime rhetoric by throwing open the Death Row cell doors five weeks before he was to hand Carruthers the keys to the governor's mansion. Cold-blooded killers the beneficiaries of this political one-upmanship were five men who had shown none of Anaya's mercy to their victims. One had murdered a correctional officer while serving time for robbery. A Santa Fe jury imposed a death sentence was in 1983, when Ricky Garcia, a prison inmate, was sentenced to die for killing an officer. The records reflect the incident to occur the homicide of another inmate began on the catwalk of cellblock three of the New Mexico State Penitentiary where Officer Jewett heard an altercation erupt among three inmates: Jesse Trujillo, Ricky Garcia, and Bobby "Barbershop" Garcia (Barbershop).
As Officer Jewett entered the catwalk, he observed Mr. Trujillo and Ricky Garcia holding shanks (prison knives) and fighting with Barbershop. The struggle moved into the guard station where Officer Jewett attempted to break up the fight and was stabbed, apparently by Ricky Garcia. Barbershop received multiple stab wounds and died shortly thereafter.
Officer Jewett died approximately one month later from the injuries he sustained. Trujillo and Ricky Garcia were tried separately for the murders of Officer Jewett and Barbershop Garcia. Another had raped and murdered a coed. Michael Guzman only 18 years old was convicted of murdering a 19 year old Albuquerque UNM coed in Albuquerque back in 1980. A third inmate, Joel Lee Compton, had shot and killed an Albuquerque cop, and a fourth convict, Eddie Lee Adams had raped and strangled an 80-year-old woman in Clovis. The fifth, William Wayne Gilbert, had the most familiar name among the five. He was a pilot during the Vietnam War and later led a mysterious life that including work as a Drug Enforcement Administration informant. Gilbert harbored a simmering rage that boiled over in 1980, when he snapped and went on a rampage of rape and murder in Albuquerque.
He killed his wife, Carol; a newlywed couple, Kenn and Noel Johnson, and a young model, Barbara McMullen. He bragged of other murders, as well. Gilbert was a charming psychopath, from the mold of serial sex killer Ted Bundy. He had charisma and a good bartender's knack for clever repartee. He also had a violent compulsion, which he linked to his service in Vietnam. Gilbert made headlines in the Land of Enchantment after his arrest with chilling comments about the glee he found in murder. "It was very easy to kill," he said. "It's almost like it's the night before Christmas when you're 5 years old." He was not nearly so giddy about the prospect of his own demise, and he enthusiastically accepted Gov. Anaya's gift of life.
On July 4, 1987, Robert Earl Davis and six other inmates escaped from the maximum-security prison in Santa Fe. Former death row inmates, William Wayne Gilbert led the escape with a smuggled handgun. After fleeing over the prison roof, the inmates split into separate groups. Davis was arrested five days later riding on the back of a flatbed trailer pulled by a semi-truck. Gilbert and the other inmates were arrested over the next several weeks. Hundreds of law officers scoured the countryside today and roadblocks were set up around Santa Fe. Helicopters scanned the landscape after the prisoners' well planned breakout from the Penitentiary of New Mexico south of here. The escape began about at 9 P.M. when a convicted murderer, William Wayne Gilbert, who was out of his cell mopping floors, pulled a gun on a rookie correctional officer at the prison's maximum-security North Facility, the authorities said. The solo and tall guard Tower was always vacant due to staffing shortages. Wayne Gilbert then used the officer as a hostage to enter the prison control center, where he shot the sole officer on duty and opened the cell doors of the six other inmates, according to Robert Greeney, a corrections officer who had been a former hostage himself a few earlier.
The inmates went through an emergency door in the control center to the roof, where they reached a wall behind the prison, walking along its top before using a pole next to the wall to vault a barbed-wire fence." The prison's guard tower had been staffed only from 7 A.M. to 8 P.M. daily '˜due to financial restrictions", said a Corrections Department spokesman. That sensor went off twenty four seven and was eventually silenced throughout the entire shift to minimize the annoying beeping. It was the design and the electronics of the new facility that created enough distractions where these false signals were eventually ignored and inmates Gilbert and Davis had known this for quiet some time thus they knew how to plan their exit out of the most restrictive unit in the state.
The authorities said it had not determined how Mr. Gilbert got a gun. Officials were checking records of visits to the inmates. Corrections Secretary O. Lane McCotter said the escapees included Robert Earl Davis, a former Albuquerque police officer serving time for burglaries, escape and assault; Jimmy Kinslow, serving three life sentences for the murders of a thirty eight-year-old Chaparral woman and her two daughters; and David Gallegos, serving one hundred eighteen years for years for many armed robberies. The remaining escapees were identified only as Michael Schmidt, Michael Romero and Hector Herman Torres. The wounded officer, Todd Wilson, was listed in good condition today in a Santa Fe hospital."
It was rumored at the time there was a gun that was smuggled into inmate Gilbert by an officer and that the investigation was ongoing. The main suspect was the same person who mentored me and trained me to work maximum security on swing shift. Shocked, I made a phone call to his home where we chatted briefly and was advised by him he could not talk as his phone was wire-tapped by the State Police and that he was a prime suspect or a person of interest on how the gun was smuggled into the prison. Pausing with disbelieve, it would have been the last person anyone would have suspected to bring the gun in for an inmate but you never know what happened until you begin to dig into the situation a bit. Then the news leaked out with a headline banner that boldly stated "7/4/87: Convicted APD Officer Robert Earl Davis and four other men escaped from Santa Fe Prison. It was then that Davis, in a later statement after he was apprehended by the cops, stated that a Corrections Officer Lieutenant smuggled in a gun to help with the escape. Remembering immediately Robert Earl Davis was always attempting Growth Plus to probe or find a weakness in the system as he has been caught numerous times with escape materials such as maps, homemade handcuff keys and homemade weapons. His ability to fabricate something out of nothing was short of amazing and required special treatment and respect for his escape capabilities. He even managed to make a hand cuff key that worked on federal restraints which were a little bit different from the Smith and Wesson cuffs we were using at the time.
Wanting to talk to my mentor and training officer for the past year and a half, I went to his house in Edgewood and knocked on the door. The man, sullen and sunburned face looked like he had just waked up as a hint of liquor was on his breath. Sitting outside on the back porch, in view of the distant white van, Dave Owen was quiet and very distraught man trying to get over his wife being gone back to Michigan and the tears in his eyes showed how much he cared. Slowly he got up and went into the bedroom and came back with some books or scripts which looked worn but all in handwriting. When asked what he was doing he showed us what appeared to be a manuscript with William Wayne Gilbert's name on it as well as his handwriting. He quietly stated he knew his wife was editing this book but did not know if she would have furnished Wayne Gilbert with anything as serious such as a gun, as he routinely brought the manuscripts back and forth without permission from his supervisors as a favor to Gilbert who wanted the book to be published to tell his side of the story. "Hell", he said "I never even bothered to check them" out of trust for his wife and not believing she could have been conned into a mind game by the best of the best on death row. Shocked, we finished our coffee and stated it was time to go.
In the meantime, the hundreds of law enforcement officials were searching the country side for these escapees that were as dangerous as they come. The headlines read Governor orders "'Shoot to Kill' Order Issued for 7 N.M. Escapees" as cops are helped by helicopters scoured the countryside Sunday. Roadblocks were set up around Santa Fe, and state police and National Guard helicopters scanned the landscape after the prisoners escaped Saturday night from the Penitentiary of New Mexico. On July 6, near Santa Fe, one of the escaped prisoners was recaptured today near a race track less than two miles from the penitentiary from which he and six others escaped Saturday. Hundreds of officers continued a search for the others. The prisoner, Hector B. Torres Jr., was apprehended without incident at 10:30 A.M. near The Downs at Santa Fe after he was seen by two security guards, the authorities said. Torres was returned to the Penitentiary of New Mexico, from which he escaped with two convicted killers and four other inmates, officials said.
On July 10, 1987 law enforcement authorities in New Mexico recaptured a Robert Earl Davis, who was making a getaway on a truckload of construction material as a five-day search for five other escapees spread across mountains and deserts. Robert Earl Davis, a former cop and one of seven men who escaped from the maximum-security wing at the Penitentiary of New Mexico, was found hiding on top of a tractor-trailer rig.
On Friday, July 31, 1987, the Houston Chronicle reported that authorities in Southern California, tipped by a kidnap victim, on Thursday captured three fugitives armed with sawed-off shotguns and a357-caliber Magnum, the last of seven convicts who escaped July 4 from the New Mexico state prison. Caught in Garden Grove, Calif., was the reputed leader of the escape, former death row inmate and four-time murderer William Wayne Gilbert, 37.
Also captured were three-time murderer Jimmy Kinslow, 27; and David Gallegos, 34, serving 118 years for 10 armed robbery convictions. Kinslow was armed with a rifle and a357-caliber Magnum handgun, and Gilbert and Gallegos had sawed-off shotguns lying on the floor next to their beds - but law officers captured them without a fight, said Bill Branon, FBI special agent in Albuquerque. "All three arrests were made without incident," he said. "There was no gunfire." Kinslow, who was serving three life sentences for the rapes and murders of a New Mexico woman and her two young daughters, broke into a home in Flagstaff late Tuesday or early Wednesday and took hostage William Blades, wife Mary and children. About 6 a.m. Wednesday, Kinslow forced the family to accompany him in their truck to Barstow, Hawkins said. In Barstow, Kinslow left four members of the family tied in a motel room and fled in the truck. Hawkins said Blades freed himself about 9 p.m. Wednesday and notified Barstow police.
Davis has been held in Folsom Prison and Pelican Bay Prison in California in recent years. Davis challenged his 69-year sentence in state District Court. Santa Fe District Judge Stephen Pfeffer in 2002 combined several sentences to reduce Davis' overall prison time sentence to 39 years. Also, 2002, Davis was charged in connection with a burglary of a post office. A check writing machine and blank postal money orders were stolen in the burglary. Davis apparently helped the burglars in the case from his prison cell. In 2003, the New Mexico Supreme Court overturned the lower court and reinstated the original sentence of 69 years. The Supreme Court decision never made it into Davis' Corrections Department file, spokeswoman Tia Bland said Friday. "We're very concerned about this," Bland said. "We are looking into where the breakdown occurred. In 2002, Davis was charged in connection with a burglary of a post office. A check writing machine and blank postal money orders were stolen in the burglary. Davis apparently helped the burglars in the case from his prison cell. He has been held in Folsom Prison and Pelican Bay Prison in California in recent years. Davis pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in March 2003 to conspiracy to burglarize a California post office. Bland said there was nothing about the federal criminal charges in Davis' inmate file in Santa Fe. Davis is a key prosecution witness in a federal carjacking and murder trial in San Francisco. Davis's California attorney Alan Dressler said, "This is unfortunate. He was turning his life around, reporting to his parole officer and working."
Mike Gallagher, a Journal reported stated that " Due to bureaucratic bungling, he was released to a halfway house in California in January, then released in March. Davis, 57, was arrested without incident at his wife's home in Crescent City, Calif., this week after law enforcement officials realized he should never have been released. Robert Earl Davis is still serving time in California for crimes committed in New Mexico and will probably never return to the state again where his legend will stay alive forever."
Sources:
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/metro/417231metro12-17-05.htmhttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fgst%2Ffullpage.html%3Fres%3D9B0DE1DE1E30F935A35754C0A961948260%26n%3DTop%252FNews%252FU.S.%252FU.S.%2BStates%252C%2BTerritories%2Band%2BPossessions%252FNew%2BMexico&h=77a31http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/07/us/escapee-captured-by-police-near-prison-in-new-mexico.htmlhttp://articles.latimes.com/keyword/prisoners-new-mexicohttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2007/03/11/2007-03-11_let_loose_by_the_governor-1.html#ixzz1DguKV559
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/metro/417231metro12-17-05.htm
Special thanks to Mike Gallagher '" Albuquerque Journal Investigative Reporter