2 escaped inmates from Kansas recaptured in Oklahoma

COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) — Two inmates who escaped from a southeast Kansas jail on Monday have been recaptured in Oklahoma, authorities said Friday.

Mark Gerald Hopkins II and Michael Wayne Martsolf were captured in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said. Details of how the men were captured were not released.

Hopkins, 30, of Columbus, was charged with the deaths of Blaze Swank, 27, of rural Scammon, and Kylan Shook, 20, of Pittsburg. They were found shot to death in rural northwestern Cherokee County in June 2020.

Martsolf, 34, was being held on drug-related crimes.

Hopkins and Martsolf escaped the jail in Columbus around 11 p.m. Monday.

Authorities previously arrested 26-year-old Tasha Young, of Weir, in the case. The sheriff’s office said she is being held without bond for her alleged role in the escape.

Officers from Cherokee County, the Tri-State Major Case Squad, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, highway patrols in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, and federal agents participated in the search and capture.