Prison van escapee hid key in his shoe

GREAT FALLS – A man accused of murder who escaped from an inmate transport van last week unlocked his shackles with a key hidden in the tongue of his shoe, Powell County Sheriff Scott Howard said.

Dueston Haggard, 28, stripped out of his orange jumpsuit and unlocked his handcuffs and shackles after the van left Great Falls on Wednesday for the Montana State Prison, Howard said Friday. Haggard waited until the vehicle slowed to reach up, open the hatch on the van’s roof and jump out.

“He just flipped it open like a trap door,” Howard said.

Officials didn’t realize Haggard was missing until the van reached the prison in Deer Lodge, several hours after he escaped. Haggard was arrested at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday at a motel after investigators traced phone calls he was making to family members back to the Blackstone Inn.

Howard, who interviewed the other inmates in the transport van, said Haggard did not have a plan. He knew the latch on the van’s hatch was broken and decided to take advantage of the situation, Howard said.

Both Cascade County Sheriff David Castle and Howard said they didn’t know how Haggard knew the latch on the hatch was broken.

Inmates told Howard that Haggard offered the key to them for their shackles, but all declined. None, however, alerted their guards to Haggard’s escape.