Escaped inmate suspected in killing captured after chase
KITTANNING (AP) – Authorities say an escaped inmate suspected of strangling an acquaintance while on the run led Pennsylvania police on a chase and rammed a cruiser before being captured.
State troopers took 38-year-old Robert Crissman into custody Friday, about 26 hours after they say he walked away from a work-release program at a jail about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
The body of 55-year-old Tammy Long was discovered Thursday afternoon at a home about a mile away from the jail in Kittanning. A coroner says she was strangled and also suffered blunt-force trauma to the head.
A prosecutor says police were alerted to Crissman’s location around 7:30 a.m. Friday by a 911 caller who said he knocked on her door. The woman recognized Crissman from the news and refused to let him in.