Ionia Escapee Captured in LaPorte County Indiana

UPDATE 8pm 2/3/14: The LaPorte County Sheriff's Department has confirmed that Michael David Elliot was captured after a brief chase in rural LaPorte county.

Authorities say a call about a stolen vehicle was received so officers were dispatched to the area.  When an officer spotted the vehicle and attempted to execute a traffic stop, the driver fled.

Officers were able to use stop sticks to end the vehicle chase, but the driver then attempted to run.  He didn't get far.

Officers soon confirmed that the offender was convicted murderer, Michael David Elliot, who escaped from the Ionia Correctional Facility on Sunday evening.

Reports of how Elliot escaped still vary somewhat, but it is believed he exited the prison through a "sally port," a secure garage used to bring inmates into the facility.  He then cut holes in, or made it through existing holes in multiple fences.  He then walked three and a half miles to Ionia where he carjacked and abducted a woman, driving to Elkhart Indiana, where she was able to escape by locking herself in a gas station bathroom.

Elliot put $10 in gas in the SUV, so authorities suspected he wouldn't make it too far.  The SUV was later found abandoned in nearby Shipshewana.

UPDATE 7pm 2/3/14: Michael David Elliot has been arrested in LaPorte County Indiana.  Story developing...

UPDATE 3pm 2/3/14: BOLO ("Be On Look Out") issued in Tennessee where Elliot reportedly has family.  Audio was released of the abducted woman's call to 911 from a locked bathroom near Elkhart Indiana.

Elliot was convicted of the murders of four people and burning down the home in which he left their bodies after an attempted drug money robbery.  More than $200,000 was later found in the trunk of a car in a storage facility rented by one of the victims.

UPDATE 2pm 2/3/14: Suspect vehicle found in Shipshewana Indiana.  Police are asking residents to secure their residences and only open doors for law enforcement.

A convicted murderer escaped from an Ionia Correctional Facility on Sunday night, officials say.  He is then believed to have abducted a woman from the greater Lansing area and driven her car to Elkhart Indiana.  She was able to escape and call 911 when he stopped at a gas station.

Michael David Elliot is serving a life sentence for the 1993 murders of four people.  The 40 year old is described as a white man, 5 foot 8 inches, 165 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

He is believed to be armed and dangerous.

While authorities believe Elliot to now be in Indiana, they are urging residents to call 911 if you see someone matching his description or have any information on his whereabouts.