On-the-lam killer nabbed near LA's Skid Row after 1,800-mile trip

Publish date: 2024-04-10

LOS ANGELES -- A nationwide search for a convicted killer ended in Los Angeles when police spotted a fugitive who has been on the lam for months after escaping prison in Louisiana, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Keana Barnes broke out of the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women in January. She was arrested on Monday near Skid Row, some 1,800 miles west of the prison where she was being held.

The U.S. Marshals Service added Barnes to the agency's 15 Most Wanted list 11 days before she was captured. Barnes initially refused to give the officers her name, but ultimately confessed her identity.

Prison officials discovered the window was broken in Barnes’ cell. She was serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted of two counts of manslaughter in 2002, U.S. Marshals officials said.

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Authorities said Barnes’ “extremely violent criminal history” dates back to 1999. She has prior convictions of aggravated assault, battery, theft and manslaughter.

In 2002, Barnes fatally stabbed one victim 17 times, U.S. Marshals officials said.

While awaiting the outcome of her murder trial, Barnes allegedly shot and killed a man while he slept in 2003, authorities said.

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