Skeptical Cabbie Tips Off Cops
But He Had 'No Clue' During Ride His Fare Were Alleged Fugitives
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Play CBS Video Video Tipster Discusses Fugitives Cab driver Mike Wagers, who drove fugitives George and Jennifer Hyatte to Ohio, tells The Early Show about the couple and the tip-off that eventually led to their capture.
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Video Fugitive Couple Caught The fugitive Tennessee couple wanted in a deadly courthouse shooting was nabbed in Ohio. This time, George and Jennifer Hyatte gave up without a fight. CBS News' Randall Pinkston reports.
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Video Official Details Capture John Bolen, supervisor of the U.S. Marshal Service, told The Early Show about the capture of fugitive couple, George and Jennifer Hyatte.
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George Hyatte, 34, left and Jennifer Forsyth Hyatte, 31 in booking photos taken after they were apprehended in Columbus, Ohio. (AP)
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The motel room where the Hyattes were caught. (AP)
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Cabbie Mike Wagers, who tipped police to the Hyattes' whereabouts. (AP)
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"They didn't strike me as the Amway type, because, to be honest, they weren't very pushy about their product," Wagers told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.
Wagers said he didn't realize who his fares had been until he got all the way home to the Cincinnati area. A friend called and asked him if he had taken a couple from Erlanger to Columbus, and, when he said he had, the friend said he needed to call the police.
"I didn't figure they were up to no good. I had no clue. I was really caught off guard by that," Wagers confessed. "I didn't get much sleep last night just thinking about how this could have turned out."
Authorities George and Jennifer Hyatte are the suspects in Tuesday's brazen courthouse escape and shooting, and were captured Wednesday night at an America's Best Value Inn motel in Columbus, Ohio, as a result of the tip. There was no struggle.
An extradition hearing is set for the couple Friday.
The sheriff in the county where the shooting took place says he wants to see the Hyattes put to death. David Haggard says he'll ask that both of them be put in maximum-security custody upon their return.
Hyatte's return to authorities in Tennessee could be delayed because of an injury.
"She does have a gunshot wound to one of her legs in the upper thigh area," John Bolen of the U.S. Marshal's Service told CBS News' The Early Show.
On Tuesday, authorities say Jennifer Hyatte, 31, ambushed two guards as they were leading her 34-year-old husband from a courthouse hearing in Kingston, Tennessee. Guard Wayne "Cotton" Morgan was fatally shot in the escape.
Morgan, 56, died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, about 30 miles east, hospital spokeswoman Lisa McNeal said.
CBS affiliate WVLT-TV reports that 57-year-old Wayne Morgan is described by those he worked with as a good man who was often seen carrying his bible around the prison, and had been with the Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex for 28 years.
Jennifer Forsythe Hyatte apparently was wounded by the other guard.
"When I was dropping them off at the hotel room, she was favoring one side," said Wagers. "She said it happened in an automobile accident that happened around here the day before. And there actually was a huge accident here, so ... it didn't raise any further suspicion."
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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