Another sighting of a man believed to be one of two escaped Western Kentucky Correctional Complex inmates near the county school campus Thursday afternoon sent local schools on lockdown and intensified authorities’ search for the pair.
Jesse James Sebastian, 43, and James Ernest Whisman, 26, were reported missing from the correctional farm complex at about 4:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 16.
They were spotted the next day attempting to steal gas from a vehicle on a farm near the complex.
Property owner Don Russell and the inmates became involved in a physical altercation, and the inmates fled.
Two days later, tracking dogs and a helicopter aided city police, sheriff’s units, state police and corrections officers in a search for the pair after a motorist reported an encounter with men believed to be the escapees on Marion Road.
A man had jumped into the highway and attempted to stop the vehicle; after the driver avoided the trap, the suspect and another man fled into a cornfield.
The search flared up once more Thursday, after sheriff’s units were contacted at about 12:15 p.m.
Sheriff Stan Hudson said a motorist saw an individual standing in a woodline on Beckner Lane, across from Caldwell County High School.
The man reportedly laid down and began crawling away in a soybean field bordering the woods, Hudson said.
County and city units responded to the area and summoned WKCC officers and tracking dogs, as well as state police.
Their search of the area revealed an area where the suspects apparently made their camp, within 50 yards of a vacant home on Beckner Lane.
“It looked like somebody had been there two or three days,” Hudson said, relaying information from Deputy Jon Pettit at the scene.
Investigators found several items at the apparent campsite.
A bag of partially-smoked cigarettes and butts was found hanging in a tree.
Partially-filled milk cartons and soda containers, believed to have been fished out of school dumpsters, were also recovered, as were some eggs wrapped in aluminum foil and half a loaf of bread.
No sign of a campfire was reported at the scene, investigators said.
The search produced no other sign of the suspects, and no more confirmed sightings were reported, Hudson said.
“Every inch of that area is being searched,” he said.
Schools were locked down Thursday afternoon as the search continued, but students were released at the end of the school day.
The sheriff encouraged residents to be alert and keep their vehicles and residences locked.
“You don’t know what kind of mindframe they’re in,” he said.
Whisman, standing 6 feet tall and weighing 140 pounds, has brown hair and blue eyes. He was serving a 21-year sentence for assault, burglary and promoting contraband.
Sebastian is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 158 pounds. He has gray hair and blue eyes, with an eight-ball tattooed on his right hand and one finger.
He was serving a 13-year sentence for flagrant non-support and theft-related offenses.
Anyone with information may contact the sheriff’s office at (270) 365-2088 or state police at 1-800-222-5555.
