Caught: Escaped Murderer Arnold Nash In Custody
A convicted murderer who escaped from a Charleston correctional facility is now, once again, in custody.
Arnold Nash was captured early Tuesday morning, according to a release from the Department of Corrections. He was reportedly captured by Sergeant Michael Gould of the Piscataquis County Sheriff's Department, near the county line in Dover-Foxcroft. Maine State Police say Nash was walking along Route 15 and taken into custody. He's been transported to the Piscataquis County Jail.
The 65-year-old disappeared from the prison at around 8:20 on the night of Thursday, September 13th. At the time, he was serving a sentence of 45 years for murder and robbery. Nash had less than a year left on his sentence before he was to be released.
It wasn't the first escape for Nash, who was convicted of beating to death a Sullivan man whom he had intended on robbing. He had escaped from prison in his 20's, and again in 1981. In the second escape, Nash also had a year left on his sentence and was accompanied by convicted murderer Milton Wallace, who escaped with him from the prison farm in Warren. They were on the run for weeks before being apprehended.
While he was at large, this time, Dover-Foxcroft Police advised residents to take precautions in things they usually took for granted, like keeping doors and windows locked, and checking on folks who live alone. Multiple Maine law enforcement agencies were accompanied by New Hampshire State Police.
Officials say that he was housed at the minimum security Mountain View Correctional Center in Charleston because he was in a pre-release program. It's common procedure for long-term inmates to be stepped down to minimum security as they reach the end of their sentence to re-acclimate them to life on the outside. Before being sent to Mountain View, Nash had spent six months at the Downeast Correctional Facility in Machiasport.