Austin psychiatric hospital escapee caught in Houston
HOUSTON (FOX 44) — The man who escaped from the Cross Creek Psychiatric & Addiction Hospital in Austin last week was apprehended in Houston.
Grimes County inmate McArthur Deashy Mathis was taken into custody at about 1:34 p.m. Tuesday, near Interstate 45 and West Road, by the U.S. Marshal’s Gulf Coast Violent Offenders & Fugitive Task Force, according to a Facebook post from the Grimes County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Don Sowell said Mathis is being transported back to the Grimes County Jail by members of the sheriff’s office’s investigation and patrol division. Sowell said the cooperative and tireless efforts of law enforcement at the Austin Police Department, working in unison with the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force in Austin, also helped lead the manhunt to a successful arrest.
Mathis was originally arrested on Jan. 2 for multiple warrants out of the Victoria Police Department, as well as additional charges out of Grimes County including unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury to a family member, obstruction or retaliation, deadly conduct, and burglary of habitation.
He was taken to the Cross Creek Psychiatric & Addiction Hospital on May 21, located at 8402 Cross Park Drive in Austin, and was left in their custody. Before his escape, Mathis was last seen at the hospital at about 8 p.m. on May 28. He kicked the back door open and jumped over a six-foot fence.
Sowell also said Mathis is a registered sex offender and is known to have contacts in Grimes County, Lavaca County, Brazos County, and Gonzales County.
