Terence Monroe Brewer, the 34-year-old convicted murderer who electrified the Delaware Valley area with his dramatic escape from the Mercer County Correction Center on Aug. 30, surrendered tonight and is back in custody.
By: John Tredrea
Terence Monroe Brewer, the 34-year-old convicted murderer who electrified the Delaware Valley area with his dramatic escape from the Mercer County Correction Center on Aug. 30, surrendered tonight and is back in custody.
Robin Williams, spokeswoman for Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti, said at 9:40 p.m. that Mr. Brewer "tried to turn himself in, just a short time ago, to the Trenton Times newspaper," which has its offices on Perry Street in southeastern Trenton. "He was apprehended at the Times by the Central Jersey Fugitives Task Force and is currently in the emergency room of Helene Fuld hospital, where he is being treated for injuries suffered during his escape."
Ms. Williams said Trenton police "will momentarily take Mr. Brewer from the hospital to Trenton State Prison, where he will be held."
She said she had no details on how Mr. Brewer’s arrest unfolded, or on the nature or extent of his injuries.
Earlier on Friday, while authorities sought the escapee, a major focus of the investigation into his escape centered on how daily head counts of maximum-security inmates are conducted at the Mercer County Correction Center to make sure the prisoners are all still in the jail.
If Mr. Brewer escaped at about 9:25 a.m. on Aug. 30 as Hopewell Township police say, it means he couldn’t have been in his cell for three inmate counts that took place at 2 p.m., 3:10 p.m., and 10 p.m.
"The guards do inmate counts of maximum-security inmates, while the inmates are in their cells, at every shift-change of guards who work at the correction center," county spokesman Thomas Rubino said Wednesday afternoon. "The counts are done at 6 a.m., 7:10 a.m., 2 p.m., 3:10 p.m., 10 p.m. and 11:10 p.m. After a guard does a count, he signs a sheet saying how many inmates he counted."
Mercer County Prosecutor Daniel Giaquinto said Friday that it was about 11 p.m., Aug. 30, during a routine count of inmates, that those in charge of the correction center found that Mr. Brewer, who was in the center waiting to be sentenced on a murder conviction, was gone.
"A preliminary investigation has revealed that Brewer apparently was missing after a recreational period earlier that day," Mr. Giaquinto said.
Mr. Rubino said because the inmate checks are an aspect of the investigation, he could not comment on how Brewer’s absence apparently went unnoticed during the 2 p.m., 3:10 p.m. and 10 p.m. head counts.
County administration spokeswoman Robin Williams and county prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Casey DiBlasio both said they could not comment on published reports that Mr. Brewer escaped by shedding his outer prison garb, climbing over the prison wall and duping guards who called an ambulance for him into thinking he was a visitor who had injured himself by falling in the parking lot.
The ambulance, the unconfirmed accounts say, took Mr. Brewer to a Trenton hospital, where he declined treatment and walked away. He still remained at large six days later until his surrender Wednesday night.
Since ambulance dispatches are a matter of public record, Hopewell Township Police Lt. George Meyer was able to confirm Tuesday that a Hopewell Valley Emergency Services Unit ambulance was indeed dispatched to the correction center, at the center’s request, at 9:25 a.m. Thursday more than 13 hours before the center realized Mr. Brewer had flown the coop.
"The ambulance was sent to transport a visitor who had fallen in the parking lot," Lt. Meyer said. "He was taken to Mercer Medical Center."
The hospital’s public relations office was contacted Tuesday, but no information could be obtained on whether a man fitting Mr. Brewer’s description had shown up at the emergency room anytime Aug. 30.
Called again Wednesday, Lt. Meyer said the ambulance crew dispatched to the corrections center already has been questioned by investigators from the township police. Because the crew is involved in an ongoing investigation, their names cannot be released, Lt. Meyer said.
At last Friday’s press conference, Mr. Giaquinto said Mr. Brewer’s last known address is 279 Walnut Ave, Trenton. Mr. Brewer was described as a 34-year-old black male, 5 feet 10 inches tall, and 165 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
"It is believed Mr. Brewer is no longer in Hopewell Township," said township Deputy Mayor Jon Edwards (also township director of public safety) on Friday, noting a township police report that said Mr. Brewer was seen in Trenton during daylight hours on Aug. 30.
Prosecutor Giaquinto said Friday, "Our office is leading the criminal investigation into this matter with the full cooperation of Warden Dennis Cunningham, the county corrections center’s internal affairs unit and county administration officials. The Central Jersey Fugitive Task Force is leading the apprehension effort. State and local authorities have been alerted … the public should be advised that Mr. Brewer is extremely dangerous and anyone spotting him should call 9-1-1 immediately."
Prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Ms. DiBlasio added Tuesday: "The public will get a full account of how Mr. Brewer escaped when the investigation is complete. Ms. DiBlasio added that the Trenton and Hamilton police departments are offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Mr. Brewer.
Lt. Meyer said Tuesday that township police were notified by the correction center of Mr. Brewer’s escape very early Friday morning "it was 10 seconds after midnight," the lieutenant said, or about an hour after the center realized Mr. Brewer was gone. Lt. Meyer said the township police’s decision to not immediately sound a warning siren and activate the Community Action Network (CAN) when they learned of the escape was made because, as he put it, "with an inmate already missing for 15 hours, we seriously doubted he was still in Hopewell Township."
Lt. Meyer said the correction center contacted township police again, at 1:14 a.m. Friday, requesting that the siren be sounded and the CAN network activated. The police complied with the request and, by 2 a.m., Lt. Meyer had tape recorded a message about Mr. Brewer’s escape that was sent to 1,400 township telephone numbers within about five minutes, via the CAN system. "The system worked very well and very quickly once it was put into motion," Lt. Meyer said.
He added that anyone who wants to have their name added to the list of western township residents who are called via CAN should call the police department at 737-3100. He noted that answering machines that block tape-recorded calls will block CAN calls.
Another CAN message was sent by township police about noon Friday. In that message, police said they believed Mr. Brewers was no longer in the township and that he had been seen in Trenton the day before.
Commenting on the jailbreak, Deputy Mayor Edwards said, as he has many times in the past, that "this is an excellent example of why maximum-security prisoners should not be housed" in the correction center.