LOGAN COUNTY (KFSM) -- After one week on the run, escaped inmate Shaun Higham was arrested Tuesday (July 5) at approximately 9:15 p.m. at Mitch's Place in Logan County, according to Sheriff Boyd Hicks.
A motorist reported seeing a man matching Higham's description wearing what she described as "dirty looking scrubs and orange shoes" walking east on Highway 22 west of Paris, the Sheriff's department Facebook page states.
Law enforcement was searching the surrounding area when the owner of Mitch's Place called the Sheriff's office and said that the escapee was in the bar and had asked the owner to "call Sheriff Hicks", according to police.
"He came walking out of the dark and he said, 'Mitch,' and I said, 'Shaun, your picture is all over the tv," bar owner, Mitchell Ford said. "[Higham] said, 'Mitch I know, will you help me turn myself in?'"
Ford said Higham was in bad shape. Higham told the bar owner he hadn't eaten in eight days, so Ford allowed him to have dinner inside.
"I asked him what happened to his prison outfit," Ford said. "He turned it inside out and you couldn't see the stripes, that's how dirty it was. I couldn't tell from the way he was wearing it."
Deputies said Higham was found inside drinking a beer. When asked how he paid for the beer, the Sheriff's office said, "They gave it to him, he didn't get to finish it though!"
Higham was taken into custody without incident, and was very cooperative and apologetic, the release states. Officers said Higham was tired, hungry and had several insect bites.
He was transported back to the Logan County Detention Center where he is being held on his previous charges and numerous additional charges, according to Sheriff Hicks.
Sheriff Hicks said Higham did confess to breaking a window in order to get food, and money was found on him when he was arrested. Sheriff Hicks plans to question Higham about his escape in an interview on Thursday (July 7).
Higham also told Sheriff Hicks that he finally gave up because everywhere he went, he saw the deputies searching for him . Higham also told police that he had considered giving up days before when he saw the helicopter hovering over him.
Residents said they feel a sense of relief now that Higham has been captured.
"I think we're all resting just a little bit easier, you know," resident, Bruce Buller said. "We probably thought that maybe he was still local and so I'm a little surprised to find out he has given up after such a long period of time."
One week earlier on Tuesday (June 28), Higham, 45, and Zackary Coffer, 19, were being held in protected custody, which means they were not with the general inmate population. The two men somehow picked the lock on the jail cell door and got into the detention facility office, where they pushed a button that let them into the lobby, Hicks said. They were then able to walk out the front door.
Hicks said there were two jailers present in the facility at the time.
Coffer was rearrested by deputies later that night, while Higham remained on the run for one week.
Sheriff Hicks said, "I would like to thank all the police agencies who have assisted in this investigation. I also thank God for watching over us all and for helping us to bring this to a positive conclusion without anyone being harmed."