Fugitive Couple Nabbed In Ohio

Authorities say a fugitive inmate and his wife, suspects in a brazen courthouse escape and shooting in Tennessee Tuesday, were captured Wednesday night at a motel in Columbus, Ohio, as a result of a tip to police from a cab driver.

George Hyatte and Jennifer Forsyth Hyatte were in a room at an America's Best Value Inn in Columbus and were arrested without a struggle Wednesday night, said Mark Gwyn, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

"We have found weapons," he said. "We don't know if it's the murder weapon, but we're processing those as we speak."

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.

Witness C. G. Gray said he and his wife were about 50 feet from the prisoners when they heard shots. He said Morgan, who was not wearing a protective vest, never got his gun out of his holster.

Morgan, 56, died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, about 30 miles east, hospital spokeswoman Lisa McNeal said.

CBS' 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. As a worker, they say he was one of the best employees the department has ever had, and had been with the Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex for 28 years.

Gwyn said the Hyattes will be brought back to Tennessee to face first degree murder charges. They were arrested nearly 300 miles north of Kingston.

Police say Jennifer Hyatte has some injuries; no details have been released but one possibility is that she could have been wounded by one of the guards in the courthouse shootout.

According to U.S. Marshal John Schickel, detectives tracking the couple got a tip around 9 p.m. that the couple was at the Columbus motel after a cab driver who had driven the couple there from Erlanger, Kentucky, called police.

After the tip, authorities surrounded the Columbus motel, said John Bolen, a supervisor for the U.S. Marshals Service in Columbus.

Authorities called the couple's room, told them they were surrounded and the couple came out of their room and surrendered, Bolen said. They didn't say anything during the arrest, he said.

Earlier in the day, federal authorities said the van used as a getaway car by the couple at the courthouse turned up outside an Econo Lodge motel in Erlanger, Ky.

The Hyattes were nowhere in sight, but authorities knew then that they were getting close to finding them.

Blood was found in the motel room in Erlanger, and an employee at a nearby restaurant told federal agents she had given directions that day to a couple she later recognized as the fugitives.

Another car was reported stolen in the area of the hotel in Erlanger; officials haven't said if they believe that vehicle might be linked to the couple.

Jennifer Hyatte was a prison nurse when she met her husband, and was fired last year for sneaking food to him. A few months later, she got permission from the warden to marry George Hyatte, a man with a long and violent criminal record.

Before the escape, George Hyatte had been in court on a robbery charge.

His escape was at least the fifth time has gotten way from law enforcement officials. The other escapes were from local authorities in east Tennessee in 1990, 1991, 1998 and 2002.

CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston reports this isn't the first time George Hyatte is accused of using a woman to help him escape. Authorities say a few years ago, he escaped from a patrol car, with the help of a woman (not Jennifer), after a convenience store robbery.

Jennifer and George Hyatte got married in May.

Before meeting George, Jennifer had no criminal record.

"You are left grappling for answers and trying to figure it out. What was she thinking?" Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson said Wednesday.

"I guess it is anyone's guess," Johnson said. "She married the guy, so you have to assume there is some sort of love connection."