One of two New Jersey inmates wanted in the daring jailbreak that led to the suicide of a correction officer was captured last night – just six blocks from the lockup, authorities said.
Federal agents and police officers arrested José Espinosa at 9 p.m. in an apartment near the Union County Jail in Elizabeth where he and Otis Blunt had escaped on Dec. 15.
Espinosa, 20, was alone at the time of his arrest and was suffering from a leg injury sustained when he and Blunt, 32, jumped onto a lower roof, from which they leaped over a 25-foot-high fence wrapped with razor wire, authorities said.
The inmates left a sarcastic note thanking guard Rudolph Zurick for helping them escape.
Zurick, 40, shot himself in the head Jan. 2 before he was to meet with detectives investigating the breakout.
In the note, left in Espinosa’s cell, the escapees called Zurick “a real pal” and thanked him for providing “the tools needed” to flee.
Authorities said there is no evidence Zurick had been involved in the escape.
Investigators said they received a tip informing them of Espinosa’s whereabouts.
There was no reason to believe Blunt had been with Espinosa in the apartment, they said.
On Sunday night, the Rev. Al Sharpton said he had conferred with Blunt’s lawyers in a bid to work out the final details for his surrender.
Although Blunt remains at large, Sharpton said last night that after “waiting several hours after my conversation with Mr. Blunt, I have not heard further from him. I strongly urge him to surrender to authorities immediately.”
Blunt was being held on charges of armed robbery of a convenience-store clerk in 2005.
Espinosa was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to manslaughter in a 2005 shooting.