Last Orleans Jail Escapee Captured After Five Months on the Run — Derrick Groves’s Dramatic Arrest Ends Nationwide Hunt

ATLANTA — The months-long hunt for escaped Louisiana inmate Derrick Groves ended in drama and defiance late Tuesday night when the fugitive was captured in a southwest Atlanta neighborhood after a tactical raid that filled the air with tear gas and tension.

Groves, 33, was the last of ten inmates who broke out of the Orleans Parish Justice Center on May 16. His arrest closes a five-month manhunt that spanned several states, embarrassed local authorities, and raised questions about how one of Louisiana’s most dangerous convicts managed to stay ahead of law enforcement for so long.

A Kiss and Cuffs

Video released by Atlanta police showed Groves, shackled and wearing a white T-shirt, being led to a patrol car as cameras flashed. Instead of hanging his head, he looked up, smirked, and blew a kiss toward reporters.

The taunting gesture capped a fugitive run that officials described as “calculated and cocky.”

“He wanted everyone to know he’d lasted longer than the others,” said a federal marshal who participated in the arrest. “But the game was over the moment we closed in.”

According to investigators, officers surrounded a small brick home in southwest Atlanta shortly before midnight after receiving a tip that Groves was hiding inside. Negotiators called out repeatedly, but there was no response. When police deployed tear-gas canisters through windows and vents, Groves began shouting that he wanted to surrender.

Minutes later, coughing and rubbing his eyes, he crawled from a narrow crawl space under the house and was taken into custody without further resistance.

Escape From Orleans Parish

Groves’s improbable flight began five months earlier inside the troubled Orleans Parish Justice Center, a jail long criticized for security lapses and staffing shortages. On May 16, surveillance cameras captured a group of ten inmates prying loose a metal panel behind a toilet in a cellblock bathroom. They slipped into a plumbing corridor, climbed utility pipes, and made their way to the roof before scaling a fence topped with barbed wire.

All ten men vanished into the night. Within days, authorities recaptured nine of them across Louisiana and Mississippi — but Groves, the most dangerous of the group, disappeared completely.

He was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, convicted in 2024 of opening fire at a Mardi Gras block party that left two people dead and several wounded. Prosecutors had described him as a “cold-blooded killer with a history of violence.”

The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office called his escape “a failure of basic security protocols” and vowed a full internal review.

Months on the Run

Investigators say Groves crisscrossed several southern states while on the run, relying on an underground network of friends and former associates to stay hidden. Federal authorities allege he received help from his girlfriend, Darriana Burton, a onetime jail employee who was later arrested and charged with aiding an escapee.

Evidence obtained from phone records and cash transfers suggests Burton coordinated supply drops and arranged transportation as Groves moved between safe houses in Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia.

“He had people willing to risk everything for him,” said U.S. Marshal Ray Monroe. “That’s what made this case so difficult — he wasn’t living off the grid; he was being sheltered.”

Tips about Groves’s whereabouts surfaced periodically but went cold until last week, when a caller in Atlanta reported a man matching his description entering a house linked to one of Burton’s relatives. That lead set the final operation in motion.

The Arrest Operation

Police tactical units cordoned off the property late Tuesday, shutting down nearby streets as neighbors watched from porches. Witnesses said officers used loudspeakers to order Groves to surrender. When no movement came from inside, multiple rounds of tear gas were deployed.

“It was like a war zone,” said neighbor Tyrone Fletcher, who filmed part of the scene. “You could hear shouting, then coughing, then the guy came crawling out.”

Groves was examined by paramedics at the scene before being transported to the Fulton County Jail, where he awaited transfer back to Louisiana under heavy guard.

Fallout for the Jail System

The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Groves will face new charges for escape, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice once he is returned to New Orleans. Sheriff Pauline Graves said the recapture “brings relief but also shame,” acknowledging “serious deficiencies” that allowed the mass breakout.

City leaders have since ordered security upgrades, including reinforced cell plumbing areas, additional motion sensors, and mandatory overnight headcounts.

“Public confidence took a major hit,” Sheriff Graves said. “We owe it to the victims and the community to ensure this never happens again.”

End of the Road

For five months, Groves’s name dominated police bulletins and news alerts across the Gulf Coast. His arrest closes one chapter of a saga that exposed systemic weaknesses and tested the patience of multiple agencies.

As he was led away, Groves’s smirk and blown kiss seemed to summarize the mix of arrogance and notoriety that had defined his escape.

Whether that bravado will survive another life behind bars remains to be seen, but officials say his freedom — and his performance — are finally over.

“He thought he could outsmart everyone,” Marshal Monroe said. “In the end, all he found was tear gas and darkness.”