Manhunt for escaped Nevada inmate continues

The inmate who escaped Northern Nevada Correctional Center more than a week ago was still at large Thursday.

Prison spokesman Fritz Schlottman said Jody Thompson, 24, will be caught eventually but hasn't surfaced yet.

"We're waiting for a break," he said.

Thompson escaped by hiding in a Prison Industries' delivery truck headed for Fallon and Lovelock.

He used a hammer inside the vehicle to chop through the floor, then reached around to unlatch the rear door and escaped in Fallon. He was last seen by a convenience store clerk.

Since his arrest, several people have been ordered held on suspicion of aiding and abetting the escape including a prison dental technician Ana Kastner, 42, former inmate Michael Woolf, 43, and parolee Tanner Kendrick, 27. The investigation is continuing into what if any part they had in the escape.

Kastner is in the process of being fire and her roommate Carolyn Thomas, also a dental technician at the prison, has been fired, both on allegations they brought contraband into the prison. Kastner is accused of bringing Thompson a cell phone and of being emotionally involved with Thompson.

Thompson has family including his mother in the Pahrump area and has friends and connections there as well as in Las Vegas. But there was some speculation he might be headed for the Mexican border.

The U.S. Marshal's Service is coordinating the manhunt which Schlottman said involves numerous law enforcement agencies in the Southwest.

Thompson was serving time for multiple counts of robbery with a deadly weapon and grand larceny. An internal investigation is being conducted to figure out exactly why security failed to prevent the escape and to ensure no other inmates can use the same method to get out.

- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.