A murder suspect who was accidentally released from an Indiana jail was captured Wednesday after two weeks on the run, authorities said.
The U.S. Marshals Service took Kevin Mason, 28, into custody around 2 p.m. in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana said.
"I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and congratulations to the USMS for concluding this manhunt and safely bringing Mason back into custody," Sheriff Kerry J. Forestal said in a statement. "Our federal partners have kept us informed throughout the entire process. We are truly thankful for their assistance and wide resources — most specifically, their task force partnerships with local law enforcement agencies that have allowed them to pursue Kevin Mason throughout the country."
Mason, who was initially arrested Sept. 11 on three warrants in different jurisdictions out of Minnesota, walked out of the Adult Detention Center in Indianapolis on Sept. 13 because of a clerical error. Marion County Sheriff’s Col. James Martin said an inmate records clerk "thought she was correcting different bookings" for Mason but removed two holds, leaving one additional hold.
Authorities in Ramsey County, Minnesota, lifted the last hold Mason was booked on, Martin said.
"Our clerk that was reviewing it sees three Minnesota holds, didn’t realize what she was doing, obviously," Martin said. "It’s a critical error, critical mistake. They’re identified very specifically by the originating agency that did it. They have a specific ID number; they’re all different, and the case numbers are all different."
The error was not caught before Ramsey County lifted its hold on Mason on a firearms charge, Martin said. Two clerks in Marion County, Indiana, were ultimately fired over the mistake.
Mason's being set free sparked a massive manhunt in Indiana. Authorities waited six days before they announced what had happened so they could have a "tactical advantage."
Mason had been charged with second-degree murder in connection with a June 2021 shooting in the parking lot of the Shiloh Temple in Minneapolis, in which Dontevius Ahmad Catchings was killed, Minneapolis police have said. In September 2021, authorities asked for the public's help finding him, believing he had traveled to Florida.
