Fugitive arrested after 11-day escape

After an 11-day bid for freedom, attempted murder suspect Theobegi Levier is back in custody following his capture Thursday in Eunice.
Lt. Clay Higgins, a spokesman for the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office, said, “He is being held in the highest security area of the parish jail, and he is under constant supervision.”
Levier was brought before a judge in the 27th Judicial District in Opelousas following his arrest and no bond was set pending his trial, he said.
A manhunt for the two-time escapee went into high gear around 4:15 p.m. Thursday when law enforcement units surrounded the area between Eunice City Lake and Tyrone Road just across the Evangeline Parish line. Officers had received a tip that Levier might be in the area near the railroad tracks just north of the lake.
“Several tips came in following a large warrant roundup in the Eunice area on Wednesday,” Higgins said. “The tips came from several sources that all had a common thread woven through that led us to investigate the information that we was on foot in that area. Levier was said to be in some apartments in the Eunice area, and more data came in that we continued to use in the search.”
Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot and Higgins watched as several armed officers made their way into the woods near the west end of the lake before getting a call that the search was being focused near where the tracks cross Tyrone Road. Several police units and officers had the area staked out, and Fontenot moved again when a call came in that Levier had been spotted closer to Eunice.
“There was a large perimeter established by many boots on the ground,” Higgins said. “Officers looked for movement using binoculars and gradually moved the perimeter in. Louisiana State Police troopers and St. Landry Parish SWAT team members arrived at the area and physically chased Levier, but there was no where for him to go. He was completely surrounded.”
At 5 p.m., several officers escorted a handcuffed Levier through a field north of U.S. 190 between the Eunice City Golf Course and Dupre & Son Floor Covering and directly across from Eunice Archery Range and Gear. Levier was searched again before being loaded into a St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office Unit with an officer sitting with him in the back seat. Officers from the St. Landry Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana State Police, U.S. Marshal’s Office, Eunice Marshal’s office and the Eunice Police Department assisted with Thursday’s manhunt. Officers from the Opelousas City Marshal’s office, the Opelousas, Ville Platte and Port Barre police departments and the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office also helped throughout the investigation.
Higgins said that Levier was not armed, shackled or handcuffed immediately prior to his arrest.
“(At this time) I don’t know if a cell phone was found on him,” Higgins said. “We don’t know how he made his way from Opelousas to Eunice.”
According to Chief Fontenot, the search for Levier in Eunice began in earnest Tuesday when 40 agents from different departments canvased the city, and Wednesday’s roundup was part of plan “to try to flush him out and get information and intelligence on him and it paid off,” Fontenot said following Levier’s arrest. The search was “... always one step behind him, but we were close to him.”
The suspect was staying in different places “... and everywhere we would go we would find evidence he had been there.”
Fontenot also said that a law enforcement helicopter was on the way to join the search, but it was turned back after Levier was captured.
This marks the second time Levier, 21, has been arrested after escaping from police custody. About midnight Feb. 7, Levier, a native of Eunice, is accused of shooting a male victim in the back of the head during a drug deal gone bad. The shooting occurred on West Peach Street in Eunice. Levier fled the scene. He was on the run, facing charges of armed robbery and attempted first degree murder.
Levier was arrested by Opelousas City Marshals on Feb. 9, but he jumped from the moving squad car while being transported to jail. The following day, Levier was spotted at a Eunice apartment complex where his girlfriend lives, but he eluded officers dispatched to the scene. On Feb. 25, Levier was arrested in Evangeline Parish after Ville Platte police spotted him in a stolen vehicle. Levier thanked “those who supported” him as he was booked following his arrest.
Levier remained in custody on his original charges and the additional charge of simple escape until April 13, when he escaped from correctional officers as he was taken to an Opelousas Health Care Unit. The handcuffed and shackled suspect forced his way over a deputy as he was escorted out of a van and fled the scene on foot. In the days following his escape, local law enforcement agencies looked into leads in St. Landry, Acadia and Evangeline parishes, and the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office contacted Levier’s family, friends and known associates. New tips that Levier was in the Eunice area began arriving after Wednesday’s warrant operation in which parish and city law enforcement officers served more than 100 outstanding warrants in the area.
“We made about 10 or so arrests on the more serious warrants and communicated indirectly with 30 to 40 more people through family members passing along information (to come in a take care the warrant),” Higgins said. “Some of the warrants were for six- or seven-year-old minor traffic violations.”
Levier now faces charges of armed robbery, attempted first degree murder, two counts of simple escape and two counts of battery of a corrections officer stemming from his most recent escape.
As the investigation into Levier’s escape and time on the run continues, the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office is looking into the possibility that a Levier had assistance during his recent 11 days on the run.
“It’s a logical conclusion, and it is under investigation,” Higgins said. “There could be additional charges. It was obvious he was being fed. There’s a possibility that he was staying at a residence or possibly several residences.”
“The sheriff is investigating the escape like any good sheriff would but the immediate focus was on recapturing Levier. The sheriff is still looking into details of escape itself.”