By Bryan Denson
The Oregonian
PORTLAND, Ore. — Police searching for an escaped prison inmate in central Oregon have turned up bloody clothes and blood in a stolen car, but no sign of Clinton Orvill Swearingen II, authorities reported Wednesday.
The 31-year-old inmate at Deer Ridge Correctional Institution, in Madras, escaped Sunday night.
“We’re still working with our law enforcement partners to do everything we can to find him and apprehend him,” said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Betty Bernt.
Swearingen’s disappearance was discovered during a 10:15 p.m. inmate count on Sunday. Surveillance video footage showed Swearingen climbing over a razor-wire fence at 9:20 p.m.
During the last 60 hours, as local and state police agencies ramped up their search, they recovered bloody clothes abandoned in a Madras neighborhood and sent them to the Oregon State Police forensics lab to determine if they belong to Swearingen, Oregon Department of corrections officials reported.
Citizens in and around Madras, a town that straddles U.S. 97 between Warm Springs and Redmond, were cautioned to be on the lookout. But Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins believes Swearingen has fled the area, according to a corrections news release.
Swearingen was serving time at the minimum-security prison on theft, burglary and stolen car convictions out of Linn County, Bernt said.
He is described as 5-foot-6, 140 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.
Oregon State Police seek information about Swearingen’s whereabouts. If you have information, they ask you to phone them at 800-452-7888.