Escaped prisoner is captured after short pursuit

An Ellsinore woman who allegedly escaped custody was arrested Friday night after a pursuit with Butler County deputies.

Samantha Jo Freeze, 33, is now being held at the Butler County jail, said Wes Popp, chief deputy.

The department received a call at about 11:04 p.m. Friday about a suspicious vehicle on County Road 604, Popp said. When officers responded to the area, they were passed by a white Ford Focus. Officers were able to identify the car as the one the reported.

They followed the vehicle and the pursuit ended on County Road 670, when the car ran into a ditch, Popp said.

Freeze was the passenger in the car, which was driven by Earnest Lynn Adams, 45, of the 2300 block of Arkansas Avenue, he said.

Both were booked at Butler County jail.

Adams, who had a probation warrant out of Kansas, faces additional charges of suspicion of resisting/interfering with a felony arrest and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.

Freeze will also face escape charges in Butler County, Popp said.

Freeze was originally arrested at 6:35 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, by a Carter County deputy.

She was taken to the hospital after complaining of injuries from a previous incident.

After about four hours, Freeze reportedly was “cleared medically,” and a deputy was there to take her into custody. However, she reportedly ran from the deputy and into the woods from the hospital.

Officers with the Carter County Sheriff’s Department, Butler County Sheriff’s Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol and Poplar Bluff Police Department initiated a search for Freeze.

She was originally arrested on two warrants for probation violation through Wright County, on original charges of stealing and receiving stolen property.