UPDATE 2:15 pm: Escaped convict caught in Lyman County

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RELIANCE - Law enforcement agencies captured an escaped convict around 7:30 p.m. Monday after a two-day search along the rugged White River area of Lyman County.

Lincoln Williams, who walked away May 3 from the state penitentiary, is being held in the Brule County Jail pending escape charges being filed by the Lyman County state’s attorney.

“It was a great combined effort between law enforcement agencies and community members that allowed us to capture Williams,” said Lyman County Sheriff Steve Manger.

A resident called 911 Sunday afternoon after he interrupted a burglary in progress at his home south of Reliance. He approached Williams with a rifle in a case, and Williams left in a vehicle. The resident called 911 with the license-plate number, and Lyman County’s dispatch office confirmed the vehicle was reported stolen in Minnehaha County.

The resident followed the vehicle to the junction of South Dakota highways 47 and 49, southwest of Oacoma. Williams drove onto a road headed east toward a hunting lodge. The resident waited at the junction for law enforcement to arrive.

Manger and South Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper Brian Biehl secured the vehicle after Williams fled into a deep ravine. According to Manger, officers from the Lyman County Sheriff’s Office, South Dakota Highway Patrol, South Dakota Game Fish and Parks, Tripp County Sheriff’s Office and a local pilot canvassed the area searching for Williams, with no luck.

Soon after searching the lodge, authorities received a call that a person matching Williams’ description was walking along Highway 47 next to the White River. During their search of the area along the highway, law enforcement found a second residence that had been burglarized . Manger said that while they were securing the residence, law enforcement located a pair of inmate shoes belonging to Williams. Authorities agreed Williams might return to the residence, so Manger and Game Fish and Parks Officer Steve Rossow used night-vision cameras to watch for him.

Williams did not return, so authorities brought in air surveillance and ground teams to search for Williams after sunrise Monday. They broke off the search late Sunday afternoon and gave Williams’ description to area residents.

By 7:20 p.m. Monday, a local rancher spotted Williams hiding behind some trees at his residence and called 911. Lyman, Tripp and Brule county sheriff’s offices and the Chamberlain Police Department responded to the scene. The rancher and his family watched Williams until law enforcement arrived and arrested him.

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