Escaped murder suspect Hayes recaptured in Marrero

    A murder suspect who escaped from an Avoyelles Parish detention center on July 11 was captured without incident on July 15, a U.S. Marshal’s Service spokesman said.

    Members of the U.S. Marshal’s Gulf Coast Fugitive Task Force, acting on “good information,” found Melissa Hayes, 25, in a residence in Marrero. Hayes gave officers a false name in an attempt to avoid arrest.

     She was booked into a Jefferson Parish detention center awaiting transport to Avoyelles to be charged with simple escape.

    An Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman said Hayes will be sent to another parish to await trial on her charge of 1st-degree murder in connection with a Feb. 13 double homicide in Alexandria’s Garden District. Her brother, Mark Hayes, 29, was charged with two counts of 1st- degree murder. 

   Melissa Hayes reportedly broke the lock on the back door of a dormitory at APSO’s Cottonport Women’s Prison, ran through the recreation yard and climbed over a wire fence. She sustained cuts from the razor wire on the fence, authorities said.

    A passing motorist picked up the woman, who claimed she was fleeing from a boyfriend who had beaten her. He dropped her off in Mansura. He called APSO to report the incident after he saw a report of the escape.