By Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN
(CNN) — Authorities in Mississippi are searching for a prison escapee police have described as “desperate” and “very very dangerous.”
Sentenced to life in prison on Valentine’s Day in 2022, convicted murderer Drew Johnson managed to escape from Mississippi’s newest state prison in Greene County nearly three years later on Christmas Eve, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
“Call your family and alert them. Send messages to them and get responses,” the George County Sheriff’s Department warned about the prison escape in a Facebook post. “People tend to be more generous during Christmas and let their guard down. Be vigilant and be careful.”
The 33-year-old has a violent criminal history spanning multiple states. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to a series of unrelated violent crimes, according to a news release from Tennessee’s Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. In 2016, Johnson fatally stabbed an acquaintance more than two dozen times, later abandoning the victim’s body in a field in southwest Memphis.
His violent behavior persisted behind bars. While incarcerated in Tennessee in 2021, Johnson attacked another prisoner, repeatedly striking him in the head with a brick, according to the district attorney’s office. Johnson also pleaded guilty to setting multiple fires while in jail in 2019.
Johnson received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for murder, along with 15-year sentences for each of his other crimes, all of which are to be served concurrently, according to Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.
He also has a pending murder case in Rankin County, Mississippi.
The convicted murderer broke out of South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville on Tuesday around 3:30 p.m., according to an alert from the Greene County Emergency Management office, shared by police in neighboring George County. Johnson was last seen on Old Highway 42 in Leakesville, about 122 miles northeast of New Orleans.
Johnson is described as a large White male who is 6 feet tall with blond hair, blue eyes and several neck, head and face tattoos, as seen in a recent picture distributed by MDOC. Authorities urge the public to contact law enforcement immediately if they spot Johnson or have any information on his whereabouts.
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