Third Idaho Escapee From Lousiana Recaptured Two More Prisoners From Idaho Who Fled From Private Prison In Louisiana Remain On Loose

Authorities captured a third Idaho inmate Friday who escaped from a Louisiana prison, but two more remained at large.

It is believed that Roger Dale Babb, 41, of Potlatch, and Kallahan Lee Zeigler, 24, of Rathdrum, may be hiding in Beauregard Parish near the Texas border.

A rice-hauling truck stolen from a farm just hours after their escape was found abandoned there and two reports of failed attempts to steal other vehicles were made.

The inmate captured Friday was David Lloyd George, 36, a convicted rapist from Ada County.

Two other men, including a convicted murderer, were caught Thursday about two hours after the 6:15 p.m. MDT escape.

Prison officials said the five inmates cut their way through two chain-link fences, where 300 medium- and minimum-security Idaho inmates were sent earlier this year to free up space in Idaho’s crowded prison system.

“They knew how they were going to get out,” said Mark Carnopis, Idaho Department of Corrections spokesman. “They accounted for all the tools within the institution. There’s a lot of construction going on there. They somehow secured (wire cutters) from the construction site there.”

The escape comes two months after 101 Idaho inmates at the Basile, La., prison were involved in a mini-riot that resulted in at least $35,000 in damage to televisions, beds, windows and light fixtures. The prisoners cited officials opening their mail and a lack of rehabilitation classes as reasons for the violence last July.

Escaped prisoners who are recaptured will be prosecuted under Louisiana escape laws, Carnopis said.

Babb, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence, was serving 20 years to life for a first-degree murder conviction in the March 9, 1991 shooting death of Ronald A. Boone, a popular Potlatch-area farmer.

Boone died of a single gunshot wound to the head at his farmhouse after Babb called authorities to report the shooting as a suicide, touching off a debate about his innocence among residents of the town of 800.

A .22-caliber pistol was found next to Boone’s bed, but no fingerprints were recovered from the gun.

“Everybody that knew Ron really felt that Roger had committed the crime,” said Darlene MaGallon, whose husband, Darald, had grown up with Boone.

At his trial, Babb testified that he and his common-law wife, Kathy Spencer, followed Boone home from a Potlatch bar. Babb said he passed out at Boone’s house, and when he woke up the next morning he found Spencer gone and Boone shot in his own bed.

Prosecutors eventually convinced jurors that Babb actually shot Boone at point-blank range while he slept and then tried to make it look like suicide. The motive was robbery, they said.

Babb’s escape “really frightens me,” said a Potlatch woman, who asked not to be identified. “Whether the man was guilty or not he was found guilty in a court of law.”

In Rathdrum, word that Zeigler was on the loose left Barbara Zeigler angry that she learned of her stepson’s escape from his natural mother and not Idaho prison officials.

“I’m not real impressed with the way they say they’re going to notify relatives,” said Barbara Zeigler.

Kallahan Zeigler admitted in a 1993 plea agreement to fondling two young girls, according to 1st District Court records. In return for the plea, three counts of lewd conduct with a minor were reduced to the two sexual abuse charges.

He was serving five to 15 years on one count and up to 15 years in prison on the second. The terms were to be served consecutively.

Both Zeigler and Babb ran into trouble in prison. Zeigler has had five disciplinary violations, including one for aggravated battery.Babb had two disciplinary violations, including one for aggravated battery, Carnopis said.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Brian Coddington and Betsy Russell Staff writers Staff writer Andrea Vogt contributed to this report.