Roseville murder suspect’s escape ended peacefully — other escapes had worse outcomes
Eric James Abril’s escape from a Roseville hospital early Sunday ended after 33 hours and no harm to area residents or law enforcement officials, but that hasn’t always been the case with Sacramento-area escapees.
In April 1997, a 27-year-old inmate who had been convicted of beating his wife walked away from the “honor” section of the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove at about 5:15 a.m. and made his way 25 miles to her North Highlands home.
Michael Neal Stallworth left a suicide note behind at the jail, and staked out the home until he saw his wife, Elizabeth Phyllis McBride, drive up in her Toyota Tercel.
Stallworth, who had managed to obtain a handgun, stepped into the street and opened fire, killing his 27-year-old wife. He then reached in over her body and grabbed their 6-year-old daughter as she kicked and screamed in terror.
Stallworth then flagged down a passing motorist and drove the girl in that car to Stockton, where he left her at a church where his father was a pastor.
A short time later, deputies spotted Stallworth driving on Highway 99 and chased him until he stopped at his father’s home in a cul de sac, where he stood waving the handgun and was shot to death by deputies.
The couple’s daughter was unharmed, but later recounted for The Sacramento Bee a life of bouncing between relatives’ homes in Sacramento and the Midwest.
The incident led to major changes by Sacramento sheriff’s officials, who created a notification system to alert crime victims if an inmate escapes or is released, and county officials approved $1.7 million to build two 12-foot fences around the jail.
Four years earlier, in May 1993, a Sacramento sheriff’s deputy escorting a federal prisoner to an appointment in the Glenn Dairy Medical building at Alhambra Boulevard and Q Street was shot in the face and abdomen by an accomplice of the inmate.
The inmate, Victor F. Carrafa, 50, had a 33-year criminal record and escaped with his accomplice, Gerard Joseph Gallant Jr.
Both men were later arrested and convicted. The deputy survived the shooting.
