Nearly two months after 10 inmates escaped from a New Orleans jail by crawling through a hole behind a toilet, authorities have recaptured all the escapees, including the man with the most violent rap sheet: Derrick Groves.

Following the May 16 jailbreak, law enforcement quickly tracked down three escapees within 24 hours and most of the others within the next few weeks. While some of the fugitives roamed through nightlife hotspots and another made Instagram posts, Groves had initially kept a low profile.

The 28-year-old New Orleans native had the most at stake, authorities said. Last year, a jury convicted Groves of killing two people after he opened fire on a family block party with an assault rifle in what prosecutors said was a feud with rival drug dealers. Groves faced life imprisonment without parole, but administrative delays had kept him in a less secure jail rather than a higher-security prison facility.

“He’s got nothing to lose,” said Forrest Ladd, an Orleans Parish assistant district attorney who prosecuted Groves. “That’s a dangerous thing from anybody, much less somebody capable of causing mass harm.”

Groves was captured in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 8, 2025, after nearly five months on the run. Police received a tip from CrimeStoppers and conducted a raid at a residential property, where Groves was found hiding in a crawl space under the house. He was safely taken into custody without injury and subsequently extradited back to Louisiana to face his original charges and any additional charges related to the escape.

How Groves Avoided Law Enforcement for So Long

Multiple defense attorneys who worked with Groves described him as intelligent and polite. Prosecutors described him as violent, manipulative, and remorseless. A former jail employee who became Groves’ girlfriend is accused of helping him coordinate the escape by arranging phone calls that avoided the jail’s monitoring system. She is among at least 16 people facing charges for providing transport, food, shelter, and cash to the fugitives.

Several days after the escape, authorities had information that Groves was hiding in the Lower Ninth Ward, the Hurricane Katrina–ravaged neighborhood where he grew up. State and federal authorities did not provide full details, but Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Robert Hodges suggested Groves was receiving assistance from friends or family.

Mistrust in the Criminal Justice System

Groves’ prolonged evasion of capture was likely aided by widespread skepticism toward law enforcement in his community. His grandmother, Kim Groves, had been killed in 1994 by a corrupt officer after reporting abuse, and the family received a $1.5 million federal civil rights settlement in 2018. Defense attorneys said Groves’ early incarceration and his grandmother’s murder undermined his trust in law enforcement.

A Series of Killings

Groves, who goes by “Woo,” dropped out of school in ninth grade and sold heroin in the Lower Ninth Ward for years. The FBI monitored his social media while he was a teenager, and he pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in 2019. He had been in jail since at least 2019 after being linked to four killings during an 18-month period.

In October 2024, Groves was convicted of second-degree murder for using an assault rifle to fire dozens of bullets into a family block party on Mardi Gras, killing 21-year-old Byron Jackson and 26-year-old Jamar Robinson, and wounding several others. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in two separate shootings. Eyewitnesses were threatened or intimidated, and some refused to testify against him.

Groves’ capture on October 8, 2025, brought an end to one of the most notorious manhunts in recent U.S. history, closing a chapter of violence, escape, and fear that had gripped New Orleans for months.