Alabama escapee serving murder sentence still on the run

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - The Alabama Department of Corrections continues to search for a convicted murderer who escaped from his work-release location Saturday afternoon.

An inmate assigned to the Montgomery-based Red Eagle Work Center, David Kyle left his assigned job location around 5:15 p.m., ADOC said. The department did not specifically provide details about Kyle’s assigned job location. He remains on the ADOC’s escapee list as of Monday.

Kyle was serving a 99-year sentence for a 2000 murder conviction out of Etowah County when he escaped. He was also sentenced to eight years in prison for a separate arson conviction.

According to a 1999 article from the Associated Press, Kyle, then 27, was a known drug dealer who shot a man to death in 1998 and then left his remains in the trunk of a burning vehicle. The victim was identified as Shane McKnight, a man who had bought drugs from Kyle. The article also indicates Kyle was serving a separate 8-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in 1998 to burning the business of an employer who had recently fired him.

Kyle’s ADOC custody classification lists him as a “minimum-out” inmate, meaning ADOC considers such inmates “do not pose a significant risk to self or others and suitable to be assigned off-property work details without the direct supervision of correctional officers.”

The classification also requires that such inmates “must remain in prison clothing at all times and work is generally assigned to only government positions (i.e., city, county, ADOC, ADOT, etc.) Inmates in this custody are generally assigned to Community Work Centers (CWC) with higher security facilities only maintain a small number of job assignments requiring minimal supervision.”

Kyle, now 49, is 5′11″ and approximately 190 lbs. He has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information on Kyle’s location is asked to call the Alabama Department of Corrections at 1-800-831-8825.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated to correct the escapee’s name, which was incorrectly inverted to Kyle David.