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Still On the Loose: Inmate for Shooting Deaths on Yadkin Farm Escapes Prison Farm, Eludes Air, Ground Search

James Ladd in 2007

Sept. 25, 2012. Corrections and law enforcement officers are continuing the search for inmate James Ladd, 51, who escaped from the state prison farm in Halifax County on Sunday. Ladd was working in farm fields when he abandoned the tractor he was operating and left Sunday morning around 10 a.m.

The search continued through the night with officers on the ground and a Highway Patrol helicopter in the air. Today, the ground and air search is continuing, and expanding outward. More than 60 Prison Emergency Response Team members and prison officers are activated and State Wildlife officers and Alcohol Law Enforcement agents are assisting with search manpower and investigative support.

James Ladd in 2002

Ladd is a white male with graying hair and a beard, which he may have shaven since his escape. He stands 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs about 140 pounds. He has blue eyes. He was last seen wearing green pants and a white t-shirt, but may also have a pair of black pants.

Anyone who sees Ladd should not approach or confront him, but should call 911 and alert authorities to his location.

Ladd was serving three life sentences in connection with the 1980 robbery and shooting deaths of two men on a Yadkin County farm. He became eligible for parole last year, after serving 30 years in prison. He was denied parole in January 2011 and is scheduled for his next parole review in 2014.

The last time Tillery Correctional Center inmates escaped was in December 2007, when two non-life sentence inmates left a work assignment at Odom Prison Farm and were apprehended in South Carolina two days later.

On the Loose: Inmate Convicted in Two Shooting Deaths on Yadkin County Farm Escapes Tillery Prison Farm

By Jesse Wood

Sept. 24, 2012. A man convicted in 1981 in the shooting deaths of two men on a Yadkin County farm in 1980 escaped from the prison farm he was working at on Sunday morning and is still on the loose, according to a press release from the N.C. Department of Safety.

Corrections and law enforcement officers are seeking inmate James Ladd, 51, who was serving three consecutive life sentences in the Tillery Correctional Center in Halifax County in connection to the robbery and murder of Johnny Parks Henderson and David Edwards.

On the morning of his escape, he was operating a tractor on the prison farm. The tractor was found abandoned on the farm just before noon.  

The Associated Press reported: “It’s unclear why Ladd was housed at the minimum-security prison. An agency spokesman could not be reached Sunday night.”

Anyone who has seen Ladd or has information on his whereabouts should call local law enforcement or Tillery Correctional Center at 252-826-4165.