Oklahoma Escaped Inmate Paul Newberry: Murder Suspect Subject Of Police Search Near Tulsa

Authorities near Muskogee County, Oklahoma, were still searching Monday morning for an escaped inmate charged with first-degree murder. Paul Deal Newberry, 25, sneaked out of the local jail Sunday night and had not been located as of 6 a.m. local time, according to the Tulsa World. Police told reporters Newberry could be armed and should be considered dangerous.

Newberry and Raymond Noriega, 36, broke out of a jail window just before 10:30 p.m. Sunday, KOTV reported. The duo climbed up to the jail's roof and leapt off in order to escape. Noriega was caught within two hours, but Newberry remained on the run near Tulsa and he was thought to be carrying a shank, KOKI reported.

Newberry was accused of murder, burglary and robbery with a firearm earlier this year. Police said he and a friend fatally shot 88-year-old Cherokee County rancher Charley Kirk in his home when the man interrupted their heist. Newberry and his partner, 22-year-old Cheyenne Watts, reportedly confessed to the killing afterward.

Newberry had been in jail before. He was previously arrested for burglary and went back to the detention center in July after local police found cocaine, methamphetamines and three guns in his car during a traffic stop, the Tahlequah Daily Press reported.

The suspect is a 6-foot-4-inch, 200-pound male with blue eyes. Anyone with information about his location is asked to call the Muskogee County Sheriff's Office at 918-687-0202.

His escape came about six months after two convicts serving time for murder famously escaped their New York state prison. Richard Matt and David Sweat were on the run for about three weeks this summer after fleeing the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. Matt was eventually killed during a confrontation with a federal agent, but Sweat was captured and returned to jail.