Courtney Dawn SteeleA handcuffed drug suspect who escaped from a deputy's car on Tuesday in North Alabama has been caught.
A local resident saw Courtney Dawn Steele, 34, walking into the woods off County Road 44 in Cherokee County, Ala., on Tuesday and called the sheriff's office. Deputies caught her and turned her over to the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office.
Steele escaped custody Sunday while DeKalb drug task force agents and deputies were serving a drug search warrant at a home on County Road 696 in the McKestes area, DeKalb Sheriff Jimmy Harris said in a news release.
Officers found 80 grams of ice methamphetamine, three loaded pistols, a set of postal scales and several glass pipes and syringes, Harris said.
Deputies arrested Steel and Anthony Earl Renfroe, 47, both of Dawson.
Renfroe was charged with trafficking in illegal drugs. Steel was charged with possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia and third-degree theft.
While agents and deputies were finishing at the scene and loading up equipment, they noticed that Steele had escaped from a police cruiser with her hands still handcuffed behind her back, Harris said.
On her capture Tuesday, a new charge of third-degree escape was added, he said.