Escaped killer, 47, still eluding arrest

Monday, June 23, 2014

An inmate who escaped from the grounds of the Arkansas Department of Correction's Pine Bluff complex remained at large Sunday night.

Timothy Buffington, 47, walked away from a work assignment on the grounds of the complex Saturday evening, said department spokesman Shea Wilson.

Wilson said officers and dogs are focusing their search around Pine Bluff, but Buffington may have left the area.

"We are not ruling anything out," she said.

At the time of his escape, Buffington was serving a 20-year sentence for first-degree murder. He was incarcerated in 1999 and was on track to be released in 2018, Wilson said.

Buffington was a trusty inmate, a status he has maintained since 2003 by having a clean disciplinary record, Wilson said.

"He had worked hard at his other job assignments," she said. "Until yesterday, we had not had any problems."

As a trusty, he was able to work outside the prison, Wilson said.

"He does outside lawn maintenance work and janitorial-type work," Wilson said. "An officer would check on him periodically and make sure he was still there."

According to the department's inmate roster, Buffington is a 5-foot-6, 182-pound white male with hazel eyes.

Metro on 06/23/2014