Lincoln Inmate Who Walked Away From Work Release Caught In Nevada

UPDATE: 11:40am

Federal authorities in Las Vegas have arrested a convicted killer who escaped from a Nebraska work-release correctional center almost two weeks ago.

Nebraska prison officials say 40-year-old Anthony Gafford left the Community Corrections Center in Lincoln on Jan. 26 and never returned. Deputy U.S. Marshal William Iverson in Lincoln said Friday that marshals took Gafford into custody without incident Thursday night.

In 1997, at age 19, Gafford was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in the killing of 16-year-old Jacque Holbert in Omaha.
Holbert’s 21-year-old son, Jacque “Jack” Holbert IV, was fatally shot while lying in a bed in a home in Omaha on Jan. 20 – six days before his father’s killer escaped.

8am

An inmate at the Community Corrections Center in Lincoln, who walked away from work release on Jan. 26, has been captured in Las Vegas.

The Metro Fugitive Task Force in Lincoln reached out to the Marshals in Las Vegas, after getting information that led to them believe 40-year-old Anthony Gafford was in the area.

No details have emerged yet on what led to Gafford’s capture on Thursday night or how he got out to Nevada.

Gafford had been serving a 30- to 50-year sentence after being convicted of second-degree murder in 1997, and was 19 when he was found guilty in the murder of 16-year-old Jacque Holbert in Omaha.

According to Lincoln police, Gafford had been housed in the Community Corrections Center in Lincoln since May. The centers are the least restrictive facilities in the prison system.

He was due to be released Dec. 11, 2022, according to state prison records.

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