A teenager who pleaded guilty to murdering two people escaped a juvenile detention center in New Mexico on Saturday night but gave up and turned himself in early Sunday morning, police said.
Josef Toney, 19, busted out of Albuquerque’s juvenile detention center around 1:30 p.m. Saturday, according to Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen.
Though various law enforcement agencies responded to the escape, Allen said communication among the cops was subpar. Toney was initially listed as “missing and endangered,” and the county sheriff’s department wasn’t notified until nearly four hours after he escaped.
But at 1:37 a.m. Sunday, Toney returned to the juvenile detention center and turned himself in, Allen said.
“We are very lucky that nobody else during this incident was hurt,” the sheriff said at a Sunday afternoon press conference.
Allen said he believes Toney simply ran out of energy and resources before giving up and deciding to call it quits.
“He just turned up here on his own,” he said.
Toney was booked into Albuquerque’s adult jail, according to Allen. He said the move was permitted because Toney had committed a new crime by escaping.
Earlier this year, the youth pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder for the deadly shootings of Aerial Mallam, 21, and Jessica Casaus Lucero, 31, on Jan. 27, 2021 in Albuquerque.
After he killed the two women, Toney remained on the run for 10 months before he was arrested in Denver.
