Stephanie Ann Ledwell, 37, of Scottsboro, Alabama, was charged in March with possessing drugs and helping her boyfriend, the fleet-footed Kenneth Chase Gifford, escape from police.You can run from police, and you may even escape, but you can’t run forever.
That’s the lesson that fleet-footed Kenneth Chase Gifford, 23, learned after living on the lam for more than a month.
Unlike most suspects, Gifford had a knack for getting away from the cops. During Gifford’s month on the run for a probation violation, he escaped capture twice by fleeing on foot, and at one point eluded his pursuers by swimming across the Paint Rock River. Before police could cross the river themselves, Gifford had disappeared.
But a man can’t stay on the run forever, and Gifford’s time finally ran out on March 13 when police found him in a Scotsboro motel room. He was there with his older girlfriend, Stephanie Ann Ledwell, 37.
“His time ran out this time,” said police spokesperson F.J. Harnen.
Based on what police say they found in his motel room, Gifford’s abilities as an escape artist were rivaled only by his abilities as a chemist.
In addition to charges related to his escape attempts, Gifford was charged with making meth and possessing a pharmacy’s worth of drugs, though he attempted to destroy evidence during his arrest by flushing a hypodermic needle down the toilet, police said.
His girlfriend, Ledwell, who has already been charged twice in the past for helping suspects escape, was charged with possession of drugs, making drugs, and hindering the apprehension of an escapee.
Bond has been set at $23,500 for Gifford and $21,000 for Ledwell.