Escaped killer captured by Romulus cops

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Escaped killer Jonathan Good, who broke out of the Mecosta County jail on Wednesday night, has been captured by Romulus police.

A Michigan State Police sergeant confirmed that Good was taken into custody around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday in the Metro Detroit area. He was arrested without incident.

Mecosta County Sheriff John Sonntag said Good was driving a car that he had stolen from Mecosta County several hours earlier.

A sergeant with the Romulus Police Department told 24 Hour News 8 that specific details on the arrest would be detailed in a press release. No other information will be made available prior to that time.

Earlier Sunday, Mecosta County Sheriff John Sonntag told 24 Hour News 8 that his department received a report of a stolen vehicle in Big Rapids around 6:30 a.m. That vehicle, which was believed to be connected to Good leaving the Big Rapids area, was a maroon 1997 Dodge Intrepid, license plate 2BJ A56 with a Ferris State University faculty/staff tag on the window.

Sonntag said a "reliable source" contacted his department at 9 a.m. indicating that Good, a white male, may have been seen in Clinton County, wearing a white baseball hat, black pants, black shoes, a dark coat with a red stripe on the collar with a dark hooded sweatshirt underneath. He was described was clean-shaven.

Good is 5'8, about 140 pounds, and was born in 1972.

Deputies released photos of what Good may have looked like to help civilians identify him at a noon press conference on Friday in Big Rapids.

Earlier, the sheriff told 24 Hour News 8 Good may have been plotting his escape for months.

Good, who had served his murder sentence and was awaiting trial on more than 30 other felony charges, was able to escape through a skylight in the jail. He was apparently able to remove bolts on a metal grate and then break through the skylight, which was made of what is supposed to be unbreakable fiberglass.

A corrections officer spotted Good on the roof of the jail. The escapee then got off the roof and on to the parking lot. An officer ordered Good to stop just north of the county building near the jail. That was the last time officers made contact with the escapee.

Sheriff's deputies believed Good may have been hiding in abandoned housing in Big Rapids, but they were also investigating the possibility that he may have left the area. They searched city neighborhoods for hours, including contacting neighbors one by one.

Around 8 a.m. Thursday, Michael Smith's door was pounded on by law enforcement officers who flooded the area, then received an automated phone call from police that gave him Good's "description and that he was considered dangerous."

Smith said the police "had helicopters out last night, they have choppers out again today. Just saw one fly right overhead."

Good's murder conviction came from an incident in the late 1980s. He was released after serving his time.

This spring, investigators believe Good was the ringleader of a group that invaded a home near Morley, tying up a man and his wife.

Prosecutors said the group came back and shot up the home, with gunfire injuring one of the homeowners. Good is facing attempted murder charges for that incident.

"He's definitely a threat to society," Schmitz said.

"His past history shows he's a very dangerous person. He's a very dangerous person. He's not just a shoplifter. This is a bad person," Mecosta County Sheriff John Sonntag said.

Sheriff Sonntag said a task force of more than 30 officials is in Big Rapids focused on vacant homes and buildings, much of the same ground they had already searched. One of those spots was on South Stewart.

"We were looking up through the windows there and you could see someone walking past the top windows. And then the bottom door, you could see someone walk past there too," said Sheila Corey, who is visiting family in the area.

She said she and family members saw suspicious activity at the Stewart address late Wednesday night. She says they'd been keeping an eye on the vacant home after police told them an inmate had escaped from the jail nearby. The sheriff says investigators were at that house Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

"We were there the first night and we've been there a total of four times. Twice with dogs," said Sheriff Sonntag.

He wouldn't say if they found anything. The focus Friday was to make everyone in the area, including Ferris State University students, on the lookout for Good.