Video of an alleged murder suspect escaping from an Oregon courthouse during his pretrial last month has been released.
Footage shows 28-year-old Edi Villalobos in a Washington County Courthouse room, preparing for jury selection on Feb. 27. Deputies removed his restraints from his legs and hands, as required by state law—and soon after, Villabolos made a run for it.
He can be seen running through the courtroom doors and then the hallways before leaving through the staff-only entrance while deputies pursued him. Authorities looked for him for two hours and issued a shelter-in-place warning to residents, according to The New York Post.
Police almost caught up to him a couple of times. They later found him at around 1:45 p.m. hiding underneath a blanket in an empty apartment after someone called in a tip.
Villabolos was on trial for the murder of Artemio Guzman-Olvera on April 10, 2021. That same day, Villabolos also stabbed a second man, leaving him in critical condition.
In addition to his previous charges, which included second-degree murder, he will now also be charged with escape in the second-degree and burglary due to his escape.
It’s unknown whether or not he will be restrained when he goes back to pretrial.
“Those were removed because of Oregon law,” Washington County Sheriff’s Communications Sergeant Danny DiPietro told the Post. “When someone’s in a trial, and any of the proceedings that goes along with it, including jury selection, Oregon law requires us to remove those restraints, and we did that, obviously.”
“I imagine they’re going to push for the hearing to allow restraints to be on during his trial when it comes up,” he continued. “But that is for the courts, the DA’s office, and court security to go through that process.”
