By Susan Jacobson
Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. — Orange County killers Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins checked into a motel on Panama City Beach Friday for a two-day stay.
Their plans were cut short Saturday when about 20 law officers swarmed Coconut Grove Motor Inn and arrested the men about 5:30 p.m. local time.
Over a loudspeaker, they ordered Walker and Jenkins to surrender.
They came out of Room 227 with their hands up about a minute later, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will brief the media at 10 a.m. today in Tallahassee. Walker and Jenkins were booked into the Bay County Jail in the panhandle and will have their first appearance before a judge today at 11 a.m. eastern time.
The peaceful capture Saturday evening happened about four hours after a news conference in which relatives of the two men, who were serving life sentences at Franklin Correctional Institution, implored them to turn themselves in.
“We want you to return home safely,” Walker’s mother, Lillie Danzy of Orange County said. “We love you. We believe in you. We just want you to surrender yourself to someone you trust, who will bring you back in safely.”
The U.S. Marshals Service Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement took Walker and Jenkins into custody, and the men were booked into to the Bay County Jail.
The Marshals Service, FDLE, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, Panama City police and the Florida Department of Corrections found out Thursday that Walker and Jenkins were staying near the beach, the Sheriff’s Office said. They narrowed down the search Saturday afternoon.
Usha Patel, the motel desk clerk, said only one of the men checked in Friday afternoon but she did not recognize him. The men’s pictures have been on billboards all over the Orlando area, where they lived and committed their crimes. A $10,000 reward was offered for each.
Sheriff Jerry Demings and Chief Orange-Osceola Judge Belvin Perry issued statements congratulating law enforcement and applauding the capture.
“I am pleased to know that they have been recaptured and that no one was harmed physically as a result of their escape,” Perry said.
After he left prison Oct. 8, Walker spent time with family and went to church. Jenkins returned to Orange County with relatives wearing new clothes they bought on the way to pick him up from the prison Sept. 27.
Their release, triggered by falsified court paperwork, led to changes in the way the Department of Corrections verifies documents that change inmates’ sentences.
Walker was convicted of a 1999 second-degree murder. Jenkins was imprisoned for the 1998 first-degree murder of a father of six.
Both men registered as felons at the Orange County Jail three days after they were set free. Registration is required of newly released inmates.
At Saturday’s news conference, Henry Pearson, described as a father figure to Jenkins, said the family received a call from the prison about 3:30 p.m. Sept. 27.
Jenkins was being released. Would they like to come and get him or have him put on a bus?
“We took off immediately,” said Pearson, who is related to Jenkins through marriage and referred to him as a “our nephew.”
They arrived about 9:30 p.m. and handed over the clothes they had bought. About 11 p.m., Jenkins walked out wearing them.
His first stop was his grandmother’s house. The next was his mother’s place. Then he went to Pearson’s house.
Relatives planned a birthday party Oct. 1, but Jenkins never showed up, Pearson said.
Danzy’s attorney, Rhonda Henderson, said Danzy received a call from the Franklin Correctional Institution Oct. 8 notifying her that her son would be released immediately. She called the prison back twice to be sure and got the same information.
There wasn’t enough time to drive from Orlando to Carrabelle, a trip of about 275 miles, so corrections workers took Walker to the bus station in Tallahassee and sent him back to Orlando, Henderson said.
Relatives rejoiced.
“The family believed that their prayers had been answered,” Henderson said.
Walker went to church on Sunday and to other public places before disappearing.
FDLE is investigating whether the men worked together to gain their release and exactly how the scheme worked.
Orange-Osceola State Attorney Jeff Ashton said he found out about Jenkins’ release after his victim’s family told prosecutors. That led to the discovery that Walker also was out of prison.
Richard Piccininni, FDLE assistant special agent in charge, said they may have had help forging the release documents — a theory espoused Thursday by Perry.
Ashton’s and Perry’s signatures were forged on the phony court orders, court officials said.
From now on, the Department of Corrections will contact a judge to verify that inmates’ sentences have been reduced instead of relying on paperwork as in years past, department Secretary Michael Crews wrote last week in a letter to the state’s chief judges.
After the news conference, Walker’s cousin Walt Lee said Walker has been unfairly portrayed in the media. The man Walker shot to death, Cedric Slater, 23, had been bullying him and anyone would get tired of it, Lee said. Walker told investigators after the shooting that he intended only to scare Slater.
“He’s not a vicious person,” Lee said of Walker. “He’s a good man.”
Nearly 50 supporters — many of them family members — attended the news conference. A Twitter campaign was launched to try to free Walker.
Jenkins broke into the home of a suspected drug dealer in Pine Hills and shot him in the leg with an AK-47. He and his cousin Angelo Pearson were convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery and armed burglary. Pearson, 39, is serving a life sentence.
Walker and Jenkins also have been convicted of drug offenses. Jenkins was convicted in 2000 of grand theft auto and in 1998 of fleeing and attempting to elude.
Staff writers Desiree Stennett and Jerriann Sullivan contributed to this report.