# Derrick Groves captured in Atlanta after months as New Orleans jailbreak fugitive
*Event date: 2025-10-08*
Derrick Groves, the last remaining prisoner from the group that escaped the Orleans Justice Center in May, has been captured in Atlanta after more than four months on the run. According to the NBC News report in the packet, Groves was taken into custody after a standoff with police at a home in southwest Atlanta.
The capture closes the final chapter of a jail escape that had already produced a series of arrests across several states. The packet says Groves was one of 10 inmates who got out of the Orleans Justice Center on May 16. His capture came after investigators followed a tip from CrimeStoppers, with the U.S. Marshals Service saying the information helped authorities locate him.
Groves was not facing a minor case when he fled. The packet says he was incarcerated on charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder at the time of the escape. That gives the manhunt a different weight, because the question was not only where an escapee might be found but also what risk he might still pose while free.
The escape itself was unusual and brazen. According to the report, the inmates yanked open a faulty cell door, removed a toilet from the wall and crawled through a hole to get out. Photos released by the sheriff’s office showed messages scrawled on the wall above the hole, including lines that suggested the escape had been easy. That detail has become part of the public memory of the case because it captured how improvised and exposed the breakout was.
The manhunt then unfolded in stages. Three inmates were captured within hours, Gary Price was taken into custody on May 19 and Corey Boyd was arrested the following day. Three more were captured on May 26, while Antoine Massey was arrested at a New Orleans home in June. Groves remained the final fugitive, which made his arrest the natural end point of a months-long search.
The investigation also widened beyond the escaped inmates themselves. The packet says more than a dozen people were arrested and accused of helping, including Groves’ girlfriend, Darriana Burton, who allegedly exchanged text messages and video calls with him while he was in jail. It also says investigators believed a follow-up call was intended to discuss the escape.
A jail maintenance worker, Sterling Williams, was also arrested after authorities said he cut off the water so the inmates could remove the toilet from the wall. His lawyer denied that he helped the escape and said he had shut off water because a toilet in an unused handicapped cell was clogged. The article does not resolve those competing claims, but it shows how the inquiry spread from a breakout to an alleged network of assistance.
For New Orleans, Groves’ capture means the final fugitive is back in custody, but the wider case is still not closed. The escape, the alleged help and the underlying murder charges remain part of a broader law-enforcement story that is only now reaching its end state.
