Update (1:30 p.m.): Jeffrey Cornell, who escaped Tompkins County Jail Monday night, has been recaptured without incident Tuesday afternoon.
Sheriff Derek Osborne said Cornell was reported seen on West State Street in Ithaca around 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday, where officers then responded, and was subsequently taken into custody around 1 p.m. It’s unclear what transpired in the interim hour or so, between Cornell’s sighting and his arrest, though the Ithaca Voice is awaiting an answer on the circumstances during that time period.
Osborne clarified that Cornell had been incarcerated on DWI charges as well as a third degree assault charge, fourth degree criminal mischief, first degree criminal contempt—and now a second degree escape charge.
Update (11:49 p.m.): Police have called off the search for Jeffrey Cornell, who escaped from the Tompkins County Jail on Monday night.
The Tompkins County Sheriff’s Department released that the decision came after they felt all search options had been exhausted. Cornell was last seen in the City of Ithaca, where the Sheriff’s department wrote that “all ability to further track Cornell was lost.”
He was last reported seen running along the train tracks parallel to NYS Route 13 south of Stewart Park and wearing tan pants and a long sleeved red shirt—clothing hardy sufficient for Monday night’s snowy scape and below freezing temperatures.
An investigation into Cornell’s escape from the Tompkins County jail in Lansing is supposed to be conducted with the New York State Commission of Correction.
The investigation into the escapee’s whereabouts will continue, and a warrant has been obtained by the Sheriff’s department for Cornell on the charge of escape in the second degree, a class E felony.
Original Story (10:46p.m.): Police are searching for an inmate that escaped the Tompkins County jail on Monday night.
Jeffrey E. Cornell, age 37, was last seen running along the railroad tracks that run parallel to NYS Route 13 south of Stewart Park, according to a release from the Sheriff’s Department that was distributed at 10:40pm.
Cornell was serving a sentence at the Tompkins county jail in Lansing for driving while intoxicated with additional charges pending. He had been deemed fit to work as a trustee at the jail, a positions which inmates are vetted to perform “special work details.”
Cornell escaped from a Corrections Officer while being escorted to a dumpster where he was taking out trash. He ran off on foot in the direction of Warren road around 6:46pm.
He’s described as a white male of about 5’10” and about 230 lbs, with brown hair, blue eyes, a receding hairline, and a large goatee and mustache. According to police, Cornell was last seen wearing tan pants red long sleeve shirt that he stole from a laundromat.
A search for Cornell is being conducted by the Ithaca Police Department, Cayuga Heights Police, and New York State Police.