Trinity County manhunt ends with wanted fugitive in custody
TRINITY COUNTY, Texas (KTRE) - A manhunt in Trinity County has ended. The suspect, a fugitive with an outstanding sexual assault of a child arrest warrant out of Harris County, is now in custody.
“He just came out of the woods,” Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace said in a video he posted to his Facebook page. “We just caught him.”
During the search, Elliott Jeffery Caldwell, Jr., 35, was considered “armed and dangerous.”
“He is in custody, so you folks are all safe again,” Wallace said in his video.
According to a Nixle report put out by the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office, Caldwell is wanted on an arrest warrant out of Harris County for sex offense of a child – fondling.
Wallace said Caldwell fled from a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper who tried to make a traffic stop on his vehicle and ran to neighboring Trinity County, where a TCSO sergeant managed to “spike” his tires on State Highway 94. Caldwell drove his vehicle until it was on its rims and then ran into the woods on foot.
Caldwell was believed to have crossed over Friday Road in Trinity County, Wallace said. He added that authorities think Caldwell is staying near a pipeline in the Glendale area of the county and is headed toward Groveton or Trinity.
Wallace asked people on deer leases in that part of Trinity County to be on the lookout for Caldwell. He urged parents to keep their children inside and said that motorists should not pick up anyone who is walking on a road.
The sheriff also asked people with deer leases in the area to secure any firearms in the event Caldwell breaks into a deer lease cabin in search of guns. In the follow-up video, Wallace urged people who live in that part of the county to stay inside with their doors locks.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice search dogs and personnel are now assisting with the search, Wallace said. in a follow-up video. He added that if Trinity County residents encounter the TDCJ search dogs, they should not run because the dogs will chase them.
“We’re going to track this guy to the end of time if we have to,” Wallace said in a previous video.
Copyright 2021 KTRE. All rights reserved.