The frantic search for eight “violent offenders” who vanished from a Louisiana lockup is finally over. By early Saturday morning, Louisiana State Police confirmed that every single one of the men who slipped out of the Riverbend Detention Center the day before had been tracked down and hauled back to jail.
The drama kicked off around 1:20 a.m. on Friday, when the group managed to pull off a coordinated breakout that sent local authorities into a tailspin.
While police are keeping their cards close to their chest regarding exactly how the men got out—or how they were eventually caught—they did credit a massive “CREST mission” for the results. This wasn’t just a local effort; it took a heavy-hitting team of local, state, and federal agents working around the clock to shut the search down in roughly 24 hours.
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Among those captured are men facing some of the most serious charges on the books. Investigators identified Trenton Taplin, 29, as one of the first caught; he’s currently facing counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Others, like 22-year-old Destin Brogan and 21-year-old Kelin Looney, are charged with second-degree murder. The youngest of the group, 19-year-old Koplelon Vicknair, was actually just waiting to be sentenced for a 2023 homicide when he decided to make a run for it. The rest of the crew—Hugo Molino, Savon Wheeler, Krisean Salinas, and Kevin Slaughter—rounded out the list of those now back in state custody.
This latest incident is a bit of a “here we go again” moment for Louisiana’s correctional system.
The state has been plagued by high-profile escapes lately, raising questions about the security of its aging facilities. Just this past December, two inmates spent nearly two weeks on the run after literally tearing apart a crumbling wall and rappelling down the side of a building with bedsheets.
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Even more infamous was the May breakout in New Orleans, where 10 inmates exploited broken cell doors and breached bathroom walls in an escape that took five months to fully resolve.
Compared to those long-term headaches, the 24-hour turnaround for the Riverbend escapees is a win for law enforcement, even if it highlights a recurring nightmare for the state’s jailers.
For now, the neighborhoods around the detention center can breathe a little easier knowing the “violent” labels on these files are back behind locked doors.
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