Idaho Prison Escapee Surrenders In Texas Man Calls Police From Bus Station, Says He’s Tired Of Running

An Idaho prison inmate who escaped from a Louisiana prison on Thursday telephoned police in Beaumont, Texas, from a bus station to tell them he was tired of running and wanted to surrender.

Idaho Department of Correction Spokesman Mark Carnopis said authorities do not know how murderer Roger Dale Babb, 41, of Potlatch, got from Basile to Beaumont.

Carnopis said Babb called police Sunday evening.

They picked him up after calling Louisiana authorities to confirm his story.

Babb, murderer Michael John Copenhaver, 21; rapist David Lloyd George, 36; child sexual abuser Kallahan Lee Ziegler, 24; and burglar Leroy Dale James, 29, cut their way through two chain-link fences Thursday night at the Basile Detention Center.

They also are Idaho inmates.

Warden Richard Wall said George was captured in Beauregard Parish Friday.

That is where a truck stolen just hours after Thursday night’s escape was abandoned early Friday. Copenhaver and James were captured about two hours after the escape. Ziegler is still at large.

Carnopis said Babb would likely face a judge today for an extradition hearing and that he expects Babb to waive his extradition rights.

Basile, an Acadia Parish community of about 3,500, is located 155 miles west of New Orleans, about midway between Baton Rouge and the Texas border. The prison has 504 inmates, 300 being held under contract with Idaho to relieve overcrowding in its prisons.

Babb is serving 20 years to life for the 1991 first-degree murder of Potlatch-area farmer Ronald Boone. According to trial testimony, Boone, Babb and his common-law wife, Kathy Spencer, met at a Potlatch bar. The three went to Boone’s farm later that night, and Babb testified that he woke up the next morning to find Spencer gone and Boone shot to death in his own bed. Babb was eligible for parole in April 2011.

Spencer was originally charged but charges against her later were dismissed.

Copenhaver is serving 25 years to life for the 1994 first-degree murder of his stepfather, Pete Maheras of Idaho Falls. Copenhaver’s mother, Dee Maheras, committed suicide a few months later. He was eligible for parole in May 2019.