Police: Ohio prison escapee’s body pulled from river in Henderson, Kentucky


Henderson Police Chief Sean McKinney holds a press conference after officials pulled what they believe to be is the body of escaped Ohio prisoner 50-year-old Bradley Gillespie from the Ohio River in Henderson, Ky., Sunday afternoon, May 28, 2023. The discovery of the body ends the five-day search in Henderson County for the escaped killer who reportedly escaped from the Allen/Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio, on Tuesday along with inmate James Marion Lee.

Law enforcement officials are all but convinced that a body they pulled from the Ohio River about 1:30 p.m. Sunday near the Henderson hospital is that of double-murderer Bradley Gillespie, 50, who had been the subject of an intensive five-day manhunt.

Henderson County Coroner Bruce Farmer said an autopsy that will be conducted Tuesday morning at the Western Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office in Madisonville will positively determine whether the body is that of Gillespie, as well as the time and cause of death.

But tattoos on the body match with those of Gillespie, Henderson Police Chief Sean McKinney said during a press conference Sunday afternoon at the Henderson Police Department. “This is preliminary, but everything that we have seen and done would indicate that this is Mr. Gillespie,” he said.

The body was found “very close to the last known whereabouts of Mr. Gillespie” and “the levels and stages of decomposition are consistent with a body that’s been in the water for four to five days. But that is, again, preliminary.”

The police chief said he has been in law enforcement 26 years, and this was the most intensive manhunt he had ever been involved in. “It’s been the longest five days of my career, for sure. I don’t really know what else we could have done.”

McKinney said he had feared Gillespie could have broken into someone’s house and taken them hostage so he would have a place to hide out. “That was my number one concern.”

(In 2016, a Paulding County, Ohio, jury convicted Gillespie of murdering Hannah Fischer and Frank Tracy Jr. A judge sentenced him to serve two consecutive 15-year-to-life sentences.)

The manhunt involved 16 different local, state and federal agencies, which racked up well over 1,600 manhours. “There were probably at least 40 personnel who gave it everything they had,” McKinney said. “We had five boats on the water at one time,” three aircraft operating and multiple bloodhounds, as well as door-to-door patrols to check in on residents.

The body was first spotted by a boater, who notified law enforcement. That brought to a close a saga that began at 3:16 a.m. Wednesday when a Henderson Police Department officer spotted a stolen Mercury Capri just south of the Twin Bridges, according to a sworn affidavit filed in Henderson Circuit Court.

A national database had flagged it as being occupied by Gillespie and James Marion Lee, 47. Both had escaped the previous day from the Allen/Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio.

The officer who first spotted the stolen Capri alerted the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office and city police to the vehicle’s location and direction of travel. Law enforcement then positioned vehicles farther south along U.S. 41.

An image released by Henderson, Kentucky, police of 50-year-old Bradley Gillespie, an escaped Ohio inmate.

“These units were waiting to make contact with the vehicle,” the affidavit states. “Officers attempted to make a vehicle stop on the Capri in the area of Audubon Chrysler,” but Lee − who officers believe to have been the driver – failed to stop.

Lee and Gillespie fled south on U.S. 41 as police pursued them. According to the affidavit, the escaped inmates eventually made their way to North Elm Street.

“The vehicle turned onto Camaro Drive then to Camaro Court, where it crashed through a fence and into a backyard of a residence,” the affidavit states.

Sheriff’s deputies and city police then began chasing both Lee and Gillespie on foot.

“They were able to stop James Lee in the area of Camaro Court,” Lee’s arrest citation states. But Gillespie evaded capture. Police records make no mention of how Gillespie got away, other than to state, “both subjects jumped over a fence as they were fleeing on foot.”

Lee was arrested at 3:19 a.m. Wednesday and booked into the Henderson County Detention Center, police said.

According to court records, Lee is charged with two counts of fleeing or evading police and one count of receiving stolen property.

The Allen County Sheriff’s Office − in accordance with other Ohio law enforcement agencies − has offered up to a $21,000 reward “for information that leads to the capture of Bradley Gillespie.” Friday, HPD confirmed they had been approved by the city of Henderson to add an additional $10,000 to the award. McKinney said he would consult with other law enforcement agencies as to who – if anyone – is entitled to the reward money.

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