Search for Paulding County inmate ends

Van Wert independent news

ANTWERP – The manhunt is over for escaped Paulding County Jail inmate Brandon Powell.

Powell, who had been at-large for more than 72 hours, committed suicide Monday night while law enforcement officers tried to persuade him to surrender.

Paulding County deputies and other law enforcement officers found Powell in the crawl space of his parents’ rural Antwerp home at approximately 6 p.m. Monday night.

Negotiations began in hopes of getting Powell to come out peacefully, but he took his own life by shooting himself at around 9:30 p.m.

Powell, 32, escaped from custody Friday when he overcame a deputy during transport to the Paulding County Jail from the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital. He was able to gain possession of the deputy’s firearm before fleeing the scene on foot.

Powell was arrested July 8, after a rape investigation in Antwerp. He was later hospitalized after becoming suicidal in jail.