PINE BLUFF -- The search for an escaped Arkansas Department of Correction trusty entered its fourth day Tuesday, as officials continued to focus on an area of Princeton Pike near the prison grounds in Pine Bluff.

Officers on horseback, in patrol cars and in the air scoured heavily wooded areas for clues to Timothy Buffington's whereabouts but found none. The Arkansas State Police, U.S. Marshals Service, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and local authorities are assisting the Correction Department in the manhunt for the convicted murderer.

Shea Wilson, a Correction Department spokesman, said Tuesday that Buffington, 47, broke into a safe room at a house on the Pine Bluff complex grounds Saturday and stole a shotgun before fleeing. Buffington also briefly held a prison employee who lives at the house, but she was able to escape.

Buffington was working on a maintenance assignment on the property at the time of his escape, Wilson said, adding that he was a trusty inmate serving a 240-month sentence for first-degree murder out of Logan County.

Prison officials said Buffington had a spotless disciplinary record since he began his sentence in 1998, the year a jury convicted him of shooting his ex-wife with a high-powered rifle.

He gained trusty status in 2003 because of that clean record and was on track to be released from prison in 2018. As a trusty inmate, Buffington was allowed to work outside the prison doing such jobs as gardening and cleaning, Wilson said.

"He had worked hard at his other job assignments," she said. "An officer would check on him periodically and make sure he was still there."

During his Saturday assignment at the home on the prison grounds, Wilson said, Buffington entered the residence and kicked in the door frame of a safe room, stealing a shotgun.

He then tried to force unit training supervisor Heather Harris, who lives at the house, to drive him out of the area, but she got away and ran to the Randall L. Williams Correctional Facility for help, Wilson said.

Surveillance video shows that Buffington also obtained a camouflage hat and clothing.

In a 911 tape issued Tuesday, Harris can be heard describing the ordeal in an unsteady voice.

"I live on the ADC grounds. I was kidnapped, and I just got away," Harris tells the 911 dispatcher. "We need some assistance as soon as possible, because he is armed, and he will shoot. He has ammo, and he has a shotgun. I am not sure what else he has gotten ahold of."

Later in the call, Harris says Buffington "was saying he just wanted to leave and go somewhere and think."

News of the escape has put many people who live in the area on edge for several days.

Lana Pennington, who lives near the search zone, said she has "been a nervous wreck" since Buffington's escape. She said she won't go outside alone and has been paranoid about making sure her doors and windows are locked.

"It's just so scary to think that someone who has killed before is on the loose," Pennington said. "And who knows what he is capable of? He is armed. Lord, I just hope and pray they get him before someone gets hurt."

Anyone who sees Buffington or has information about his escape should immediately call 911, prison officials said, adding that he should not be approached and is considered armed and dangerous. He is white, stands 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs about 180 pounds.

State Desk on 06/25/2014