Elijah Muhammad
D.O.B. 08/17/1949
6 Feet 0 inches
220 Pounds
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Gray
Charge: Home Invasion / Aggravated Battery
News-Democrat
Police are searching for a St. Clair County Jail detainee who posed as another inmate, and was released by mistake.
"We released the wrong guy," Jail Superintendent Maj. Phillip McLaurin said. "This was a mistake made by an individual officer and we did not classify it as an escape."
McLaurin said the jail mistakenly released 60-year-old Elijah Muhammad, who was last seen wearing a dark blue V-neck short-sleeved jersey with the words "Curt Smith" on the front. Muhammad is a black man with a medium build, about 6-feet-tall and 220 pounds.
The St. Louis man posted bail about 2:26 p.m. under the name of another inmate, whose shirt he had taken. Staff noticed he was gone about 30 minutes later.
He got a ride with another inmate who had posted bail, and was dropped off near Kingshighway and St. Clair Avenue in East St. Louis.
"I would imagine he's already in St. Louis or out of state," said Sgt. Daniel Stockett, an investigator with the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department.
Anyone with information on Muhammad's whereabouts is asked to call the Sheriff's Department at 277-3505.
Deputies are investigating whether the incident was planned, Stockett said.
"Obviously, the person who posted bond knew that the person they picked up didn't look like the person they asked for," Stockett said.
Muhammad was charged with felony home invasion and aggravated battery in Alorton. He had been held at the jail since about 8:14 p.m. Friday, and his bail was set at $400,000.
A man came to the jail to post cash bond for inmate Darrlyn K. Byrd, 44, of Belleville, who was sharing a cell with Elijah Muhammad. The man posting bond also had the surname Muhammad and knew the amount of Byrd's bail, $120. Bryd is being held in the jail on a disorderly conduct charge.
After the man posted bond, officers then went to the cell and called Byrd's name.
Muhammad responded, put on a shirt lying next to the sleeping Byrd and walked out of the cell, Stockett said.
Muhammad walked out the front door of the Sheriff's Department and got into a car with a person who had just been released. Investigators are in the process of questioning the woman who drove Muhammad to East St. Louis.
Investigators have not determined whether Muhammad and Byrd knew each other prior to their incarceration, Stockett said.
Police are questioning Byrd, and he will be held at the jail for an allowed 48 hours due to the investigation, Stockett said.
"Anytime you have something like this, you're not proud of it happening," Stockett said. "But all law enforcement agencies in the area have been notified and we are thoroughly investigating this incident."
