In June 2017, Ricky Dubose, 29 years old, and Donnie Rowe escaped from a prisoner transport bus in Putnam County. The two planned their escaped and shot and killed Sgt. Christopher Monica and Sgt. Curtis Billue.  Dubose was accused of firing the gun that killed the officers after he and Rowe slipped out of handcuffs and burst through an unlocked gate at the front of the bus.  Dubose grabbed one of the officers’ weapons and shot Monica, the guard, and then Billue, the driver, both in the head. Security cameras on the bus recorded the violent escape and roughly 30 other prisoners witnessed the killings. For days, deputies in both Georgia and Tennessee searched for the two inmates. While on the run, officials said both Dubose and Rowe stole at least three different cars, broke into a home, tied up the couple inside of that home, and hid out from the authorities. The two were eventually captured in Tennessee.

Donnie Rowe was convicted last year of murder in the guards’ death. A judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole after jurors could not agree on whether he should be sentenced to death.

Ricky Dubose,  from Madison County, was serving a 20-year sentence for a 2015 armed robbery and assault in Elbert County when he escaped. A jury sentenced Ricky Dubose to the death penalty on all four counts.