When a middle-of-the-night call is notification that a two-time convicted murderer is on the loose and may be seeking refuge in the neighborhood, it sends a chill down the spine.
By: Cynthia Williamson
It’s unsettling enough when the phone rings in the middle of the night.
But when the purpose of the call is notification that a two-time convicted murderer is on the loose and may be seeking refuge in the neighborhood, it sends a chill down the spine, as it did to West Amwell Township resident Roy Pedersen.
Like others who live near the Mercer County Correction Center on Route 29 in Hopewell Township, Mr. Pedersen heard the sirens early Friday morning but he didn’t immediately recognize it as a signal the prison activates when there is an escape.
The vaguely familiar siren "was disturbing enough," said Mr. Pederson, that he telephoned an acquaintance in Hopewell Township whom he knew was on a list to receive an automated message if a prison break occurred.
"He couldn’t explain it either," Mr. Pedersen said. He contacted Lambertville police, who had not yet been notified and who advised him the siren he heard about 1:15 a.m. was most likely a drill.
"He said it so quickly and with such confidence, I went back to sleep," Mr. Pedersen recalled.
He was rustled from his sleep about 45 minutes later with a call from his Hopewell Township neighbor confirming his worst nightmare a two-time murderer was on the loose.
"You certainly don’t want to get that call at 2:30 in the morning," said Mr. Pedersen, who immediately combed his house for the closest thing he could find resembling a weapon a badminton racket. "It’s changed the way I feel about the area."
The prisoner, 38-year-old Terrence Brewer, reportedly had escaped 15 hours earlier from the correction center, where he was awaiting sentencing for the 1998 murder of a Trenton man.
He reportedly escaped by climbing a fence and onto the adjoining roof of a prison building, from which he jumped to the ground and freedom.
County and prison officials weren’t releasing additional details of Brewer’s escape, but The Times of Trenton reported that Brewer posed as an injured visitor, convinced correction officers he needed medical treatment and was transported by ambulance to a Trenton hospital, where he slipped away without a trace. The search for Brewer this week was being focused on the City of Trenton, where authorities believed him to be hiding, The Times reported. He remained at large late Tuesday night.
Authorities believe Brewer escaped about 9 a.m. Aug. 30 but prison guards did not discover him missing until 11 p.m. when an inmate check was conducted.
West Amwell resident John Dale said he and his wife, Robin, heard the sirens but didn’t quite know what to make of them.
"We weren’t sure what it was," remembered Mr. Dale, whose house is located down a long secluded driveway not far from the prison. "When you hear a siren go off, maybe somebody ought to know what it is."
Mr. Dale said he isn’t unduly concerned a prison escapee would locate his house amid the thick woods enveloping his property. But, at the same time, he’s troubled the facility apparently lacks adequate security.
"They need to either upgrade the facilities," he said, "or put it to the use it was intended."
West Amwell resident Wendy Gordon was on vacation with her family at the time but the mother of two children said living less than a mile away from the prison is "something I’ve been nervous about."
Her neighbor in Hopewell Township heard the alarm and called Lambertville police, who "didn’t know anything about it" and advised the man to contact Hopewell Township police, Ms. Gordon said.
"I always get nervous when I see a helicopter going up and down the (Delaware) river," she said. "It sure looks like it could be them looking for inmates."
She said she is worried about security at the prison, recalling the evening her car was stolen from in front of their house on a secluded gravel and dirt road off Route 29 while she and her husband were inside watching television.
"Have they really reinforced their fences to accommodate the hardened criminals," she said. "That prison wasn’t built for murderers."
Pat Johnston said, "We weren’t thrilled" when the state began housing maximum security prisoners at the correction center in 1998.
"It was OK when it was minimum security," the township resident said. "When someone like that escapes, there’s not much you’re going to be able to do to protect yourself."
Mrs. Johnston also said she "never dreamed" the correction complex is as large as it was depicted in aerial shots she had seen in the media.
"I’m upset and worried it had been so many hours before they realized he was gone," she said. "It’s such a security breakdown."
Mr. Pedersen said he plans to voice his concerns about the prison at tonight’s Hopewell Township Committee meeting, where he is sure to get a sympathetic ear from at least one municipal official, Public Safety Director Jon Edwards.
Mr. Edwards has lobbied against housing maximum security prisoners at the Titusville correction center, saying the Aug. 30 escape is "an excellent example" to support his argument.
Lambertville Mayor David Del Vecchio also is opposed to the current system, saying the facility "clearly is not set up for that."
"The question is why does Mercer County use that facility for inmates who clearly deserve more attention from the correction system," he said. "When they only put prisoners there that belong there, I think it will work."
He said the city is going to spell out its concerns in a letter to Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti and "talk to our legislative delegation."
"I don’t know if they’d be willing to do anything," he said. "The fact is it’s a county facility in another county, it just happens to be close to us."
Mr. Pedersen said he is encouraging everyone to attend the Hopewell Township Committee meeting tonight at the municipal complex, 201 Washington Crossing-Pennington Road, beginning at 7 p.m.
"When I hear a noise, I’m no longer going to think it’s just a creak in the night," he said. "The prison down there is clearly not set up for murderers."
Everything he’s heard about the prison since the breakout has done nothing to reassure him he and his family are still safe in the rural community.
"If human error allows something like that to occur, that’s the reality and the reality is it’s going to happen again," said Mr. Pedersen, who said he plans to purchase a gun for protection.
Brewer was 15 when he committed his first murder, the 1978 stabbing of a man in Trenton, a crime for which he served about four years in a juvenile detention facility before being released in 1983.
He was returned to prison in 1985 on armed robbery and weapons possession convictions and was paroled in 1996.
Brewer is black and stands 5 feet 9 inches tall. He weighs 160 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes.
He may be armed and is considered extremely dangerous. Anyone spotting him should call 911 immediately, authorities said.