Sheriff praises teamwork in recapture of all Bibb County Jail escapees

Bibb County Sheriff David Davis says the operation was a team effort across multiple agencies.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – More than one month ago, four inmates escaped from the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center. As of Saturday, all of the inmates are now back in custody.

Monday, Bibb County Sheriff David Davis spoke at a news conference about the efforts that went into capturing the escapees.

“Our citizens should be very proud of the work that all of these deputies and all of these agencies put in to capture these four escapees,” Sheriff Davis said.

The inmates—Joey Fournier, Mac Anderson, Johnifer Barnwell, Chavis Stokes—escaped through a broken fence in the early morning hours of October 16.

Security camera footage showed the inmates escaping in a blue Dodge Challenger.

“As soon as we were made aware of the escape, certainly everything went into play,” Sheriff Davis said. “And that’s when this team that’s assembled here all came into action.”

On October 20, investigators found the Dodge Challenger in the Kroger shopping center parking lot on North Avenue in Macon.

The discovery of the getaway car led to the arrests of multiple individuals charged with assisting the escapees.

From there, investigators were able to locate Stokes in Montezuma on October 25. On November 3, Anderson was taken into custody in Atlanta. Barnwell was arrested at a home in Augusta on November 11 with a large amount of drugs discovered inside the home. Then on November 18, Fournier was arrested at a homeless camp near Stockbridge.

Sheriff Davis says the operation was a team effort across multiple agencies.

“There was no ego,” he said. “Everybody worked together. Everybody followed the leads. Everybody followed the tips, and we had a successful operation. And these individuals were taken into custody.”