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.

KTHV-TV reported Sunday evening that Jefferson County sheriff's officials said Buffington took a hostage, who was later able to escape, and that he was armed with a shotgun and a backpack of ammunition.

However, Mindy Herman, an operator at the sheriff's office, said she was told by Maj. Lafayette Woods, operations commander for the office, that he would not comment on the claims.

"He said we are not involved in the search anymore," Herman said shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday. "It's going to be the Arkansas Department of Correction. He said he has no involvement in it."

Wilson said the Correction Department will not confirm specifics of the case and is focused on getting Buffington in custody.

"We have not begun to conduct an investigation on the details, so I can't confirm any details about that until we have conducted our own investigation into what's going on," Wilson said. "It's very possible he could be armed."

At the time of his escape, Buffington was serving a 20-year sentence for first-degree murder. He was convicted in 1998 of shooting his ex-wife with a high-powered rifle. Wilson said he was on track to be released from prison in 2018.

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