Escaped GA Inmate Arrested; 3 Remain At Large

MONTEZUMA, GA — One of four inmates who escaped from the Bibb County Detention Center has been arrested, the Bibb County Sheriff's Office said.

After a 10-day manhunt, Chavis Demaryo Stokes, 29, was arrested around 2 p.m. Thursday in a Montezuma home by the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, authorities said.

The three other inmates - Joey Fournier, Marc Kerry Anderson, Johnifer Dernard Barnwell - remain at large.

The sheriff's office posted a 42-second video to Facebook that shows Stokes walking into the jail for booking. According to the Bibb County Jail records, Stokes faces 26 charges, some of which are drug-related including trafficking and distribution.

Aside from the drug charges, Stokes was also charged on suspicion of escape, simple battery, giving inmates liquor/drugs/weapons/telecommunications device, hit and run, aggressive driving, aggravated assault, driving while license suspended or revoked, willful obstruction of law-enforcement officers, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, second-degree criminal damage to property and receipt, possession or transfer of a firearm by convicted felony or felony first offender.

Stokes' bond is $56,650, according to jail records.

Of the $73,000 total reward that is being offered for information leading to the inmates, the Bibb County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Marshals Service each offered up to $5,000 while the Macon Regional Crime Stoppers offered up to $2,000 for each inmate.

The FBI offered up to $5,000 for the capture of Fournier, Stokes and Anderson - bringing the reward for Stokes' capture up to $17,000.

Still on the run are the following three inmates:

• Fournier, 52: a white man with gray hair and blue eyes who is 5-feet-9-inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. He was being held on suspicion of murder.
• Anderson, 24: a Black man with dreads who is 5-feet-9-inches tall and weighs 165 pounds. He was being held on suspicion of aggravated assault.
• Barnwell, 37: a Black man with braids who is 5-feet-9-inches tall and weighs 190 pounds. He was being detained for the U.S. Marshals.

The four men escaped on Oct. 16 through a damaged day room room and a cut fence. Jakaylen Williams, 24, was identified as the driver of the getaway car and has been arrested, authorities said.

Authorities said Tuesday, Christian Demond Williams, 23, who was believed to be involved in helping the men escape the detention center, died by suicide after the U.S. Marshals Service went to an apartment at The Pines at Vineville.

They knocked on the door around 7 a.m., when someone shot through the apartment door, authorities said. Bibb County's SWAT team arrived, and a second person in the apartment told authorities Williams was on the ground with self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. He died of his injuries the next morning.

Williams was reportedly kidnapped on March 6, "hours before he was due in court for his 2021 murder charges," the sheriff's office said.

Authorities are investigating his involvement in the jail escape.

Media outlet 13WMAZ reported Williams' girlfriend, Mykia Williams, was arrested during the raid and was charged on suspicion of four counts of aiding an escape. She remained incarcerated Friday, according to jail records.

Tipsters with information about their whereabouts can call the FBI's tip line, 1 (800) 225-5324, the U.S. Marshals Service, 1 (877) 926-8332, or the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, (478) 751-7500.