An escaped inmate who was found hiding in an Atlanta crawl space on Wednesday is back in Louisiana after nearly five months on the run.

Derrick Groves was the last of 10 inmates who had been at large following an escape from the Orleans Parish Justice Center back in May. Louisiana State Police said Friday that authorities transported Groves from Atlanta to Baton Rouge, and then to a secure correctional facility.

Groves was arrested following a brief standoff on Wednesday, marking the end of a months-long manhunt. He waived his right to an extradition hearing on Thursday, saying, “I want to return where I’m from.”
Escaped New Orleans inmate Derrick Groves waived his extradition hearing, allowing law enforcement to take him back to Louisiana.CBS News Atlanta

How did law enforcement find Derrick Groves?

Groves was taken into custody at a home on Honeysuckle Lane in southwest Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon.

Officials with the U.S. Marshals Office in Louisiana told CBS News’ Nicole Sganga that they had received a tip through Crime Stoppers earlier in the summer that pointed them to metro Atlanta.

Groves was found hiding in a crawl space beneath the home by a SWAT team. He was the only one in the house at the time and was taken into custody without incident.
Derrick Groves was taken into custody after a standoff involving a SWAT team in southwest Atlanta.Courtesy of the Atlanta Police Department
Investigators are working to determine how Groves traveled from New Orleans to Atlanta and how long he had been in Georgia.

Neighbors told CBS News Atlanta that they were shocked when they saw the law enforcement activity at the home. Richard McQueen, the owner of the home Groves was found in, said he lived out of town and drove into the city after hearing about what happened.

“I don’t know the people I rented to,” McQueen said. “It was so secretive. I asked my neighbor, ‘Who are these people?’ and everyone said, ‘Oh, they’re good people.’ Now I come home and my property is damaged. I’m trying to figure out what happened just like everyone else.”

Who is Derrick Groves?

According to court records, Groves, who goes by “Woo,” dropped out of school in ninth grade and sold heroin in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward for years. The FBI began monitoring his social media while he was still a teenager, and Groves pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in 2019.

Groves has been in jail since at least 2019, after his involvement in four killings over 18 months.

In October 2024, a jury convicted Groves of second-degree murder for using an assault rifle to fire dozens of bullets into a family block party on Mardi Gras.

Byron Jackson, 21, and 26-year-old Jamar Robinson were killed, and several others were wounded. He faces life imprisonment without parole, but administrative delays have kept him in jail for years instead of a more secure prison facility.
Images show the before and after behind a toilet in one of the jail cells where the New Orleans inmates escaped.Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office
Groves later pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in two separate shootings, according to the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office. He was scheduled to be sentenced in December 2024, but a judge in the case recused herself, and Groves had not been sentenced when he escaped, according to Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Fair of the Eastern District of Louisiana said that Groves was believed to be a ringleader in the May 16 jailbreak, in which the 10 broke through a wall behind a toilet in an empty cell. Throughout his capture and extradition, Groves’ grin and the playful kiss he blew at the cameras became an iconic image of the daring escapee, further fueling public fascination and controversy over his attitude.