MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) – The snow and cold weather may not stop people from committing crimes in Memphis, but the wintery conditions are thwarting some of their getaway plans.
Demarkus Davis, a child rape suspect, was being transferred to a jail in Shelby County, Tennessee, on Jan. 14 when he jumped out of a corrections officer’s car in Memphis, according to the Memphis Police Department. Davis, 20, was wearing shackles at the time, they said.
Davis didn’t stay on the lam for long. After approximately 45 minutes in snowy, freezing conditions, Davis stopped a passing motorist with the intent to turn himself in, officials said.
He is currently being held on a $76,000 bond.
In addition to the case above, Nexstar’s WREG found at least two other cases where the weather had worked to the Memphis Police Department’s advantage in recent days.
Earlier on Sunday morning, footprints in the snow pointed officers straight to the location of two burglary suspects, ages 20 and 22, following a break-in at an Ulta store, the MPD said. Police said the parking lot was covered with snow when the pair broke through a front window and left with $4,000 worth of beauty products.
Officers said they found the suspects still in the shopping center’s lot, with a suitcase containing the stolen items.
Then, the following morning in Raleigh, Tennessee, officers said they saw two men trying to break into an air machine at a Valero gas station. Police said they were able to catch one of the suspects after finding his snowy footprints inside a stolen Honda nearby.
Winter storms brought snow and freezing temperatures across much of the country this past weekend. Weather experts at WREG in Memphis had even warned of temperatures dipping into the teens overnight on Saturday, along with wind chills in the single digits.