High-Stakes Capture: Last of 4 Escaped Inmates, Charged with Murder, Apprehended.

 


After being on the run for over a month, authorities successfully captured the last of the four inmates accused of escaping from a Georgia jail. Joey Fournier, facing murder charges for allegedly killing his ex-girlfriend Cynthia Berry in February 2022, was apprehended near Stockbridge, Georgia, about 65 miles northwest of the Bibb County Jail. Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force and Bibb County Sheriff’s Office Gang Unit, collaborated in a coordinated operation to apprehend the 52-year-old Fournier.

Bibb County Sheriff David Davis expressed gratitude for Fournier's capture, and he was promptly returned to the Bibb County Jail. The escape occurred on Oct. 16 when Fournier and three other inmates—Johnifer Dernard Barnwell, Chavis Demaryo Stokes, and Marc Kerry Anderson—reportedly broke out through a damaged day room window, cut a fence, and fled in a blue Dodge Challenger.

Barnwell was arrested in Augusta a week ago, with authorities discovering a significant quantity of drugs at the location. Stokes was captured in Montezuma ten days after the escape, and Anderson was apprehended in Atlanta on Nov. 3 by the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia State Patrol SWAT, and U.S. Marshals. Additional charges for the escaped inmates are pending.

During the manhunt, another wanted murderer, Christian Williams, died by suicide as U.S. Marshals closed in on Oct. 23. Williams, initially a suspect in the escape, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a confrontation with law enforcement at an apartment complex.

Williams, who vanished on March 5 before his trial for allegedly killing Greg Lamar Watkins Jr., was believed to have staged his disappearance. Bibb County Sheriff David Davis indicated that Williams had knowledge of the escapees but clarified that he was not one of them. Williams' death marked a grim turn in the extensive effort to bring the escaped inmates to justice.

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