Authorities Nab Escapee Who Fled on Laundry Truck

CHICAGO — Tipsters led federal and local law enforcement to a suburban Chicago motel Saturday where they recaptured Warren C. Mathis, who had escaped from the Cook County Jail the day before aboard a laundry truck.

Mathis, 35, was last seen around 10:30 a.m. Friday working in an open and busy area where trucks transporting people and supplies load and unload, a jail spokesman told the Chicago Sun-Times.

It's believed Mathis hid on the large box truck as it was leaving a dock to take dirty jail uniforms to a local laundry, then jumped out at a stop light about a mile away.

Mathis was awaiting trial in three armed robberies and now faces the prospect of being charged with felony escape.