When a van transporting 11 prisoners across the country stopped for burgers in a southern Minnesota town, convict Homer Land apparently saw his chance for freedom, not lunch.
While one guard was ordering Whoppers and sodas inside a Burger King, Land and two other prisoners allegedly managed to free themselves from handcuffs, overpower the other guard and drive the van full of prisoners to temporary freedom.
Ten of them were quickly recaptured Thursday morning when the van was ditched two blocks into the trip–eight prisoners never leaving the vehicle, authorities said. But Land, who later allegedly took a married couple hostage, managed to elude a team of bloodhounds, search helicopters and dozens of police officers for 36 hours.
His freedom ended Friday night when officers of the FBI’s Fugitive Task Force in Chicago arrested Land while he was sitting on a bus at the Greyhound terminal, 630 W. Harrison St., Chicago. He had been en route to Alabama, where he has relatives, according to authorities.
“We want him back,” said Detective Dan Finne of the Owatonna County Sheriff’s Department in Minnesota.
Land, 40, of Panama City, Fla., is expected to appear in a Chicago courtroom Sunday. According to the FBI, Minnesota law-enforcement officials will seek his extradition there. Florida, where Land was convicted of aggravated battery, wants him returned as well. Authorities said he is likely to face new charges related to his flight and the alleged kidnapping.
Although the episode initially resembled a screwball comedy, Land’s 1 1/2 days of freedom apparently brought terror to a southern Minnesota couple he allegedly kidnapped during his escape. After being held in their home for 12 hours, the couple were taken in their car at knifepoint by Land, who forced them to drive toward Minneapolis, authorities said.
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They managed to flee when he stopped to buy cigarettes at a convenience store, police said.
“We just wanted to get the hell out of the car, and we took off,” said one of the captives, Gordy Holfius of Owatonna, which is 60 miles south of the Twin Cities.
Land had been arrested last month for drunken driving in Johnson County, Kan., where authorities learned he was wanted in Panama City for a probation violation.
Two guards for TransCor America Inc., a Nashville-based private security firm that transports prisoners across the country, were taking Land from Kansas to Florida, but detoured to St. Paul for more prisoners, authorities said.
Heading out of Minnesota, the van stopped at a Burger King in Owatonna about 11:30 a.m. Thursday. A guard went inside to buy hamburgers and drinks for the 11 prisoners. While the prisoners smoked cigarettes inside the van, the second guard opened the doors for ventilation.
Land and two other prisoners slipped out of their handcuffs, broke through a mesh door separating the convicts from the front of the van and shoved the security guard out, authorities said.
Inside the restaurant, the other guard was filling the soft drinks himself and waiting for the burgers when he saw the van leave, said Kathy Enser, the Burger King assistant manager.
“He was getting 11 pops, and all of a sudden he took off running,” Enser said Saturday. “He couldn’t have been in here more than a minute or so. He never got the Whoppers.”
The three prisoners who had allegedly broken loose drove the van several blocks before running from the vehicle. Two of them were caught soon afterward.
Authorities said Land fled to a nearby home, where he hid for several hours under a back-yard deck and covered himself in plastic. When Holfius came home from work about 3:30 p.m., Land, wielding a knife and wrench, held him hostage until Holfius’ wife, Betty, arrived an hour later, police said. For nearly 12 hours, Land allegedly bullied and controlled the couple.
The balding Land shaved his beard and mustache and ordered Betty Holfius to cover the tattoos on his arms with makeup, said Sgt. Richard Cook of the Rice County Sheriff’s Department.
Early Friday, Land allegedly forced the couple into their car and ordered them to drive. In Rice County, north of Owatonna, Land had them pull off Interstate Highway 35 so he could buy cigarettes at a convenience store, authorities said.
Land left the couple in the vehicle, their hands bound with duct tape, police said. In the store, he asked for a carton of Camel Menthol cigarettes, but the store didn’t carry the brand, and the delay apparently gave the couple, who had managed to break out of the tape, time to escape, police said.
They flagged down a vehicle just as Land emerged from the store, police said. Land then drove off alone toward Minneapolis but abandoned the couple’s car 20 miles later, near Hampton, Minn., police said.
There, he allegedly met two men at a diner. For $20, they drove him to a Minneapolis bus depot, police said.
They later recognized Land on a TV news report and contacted authorities. That gave them the drop on Land, who was arrested when the bus stopped in Chicago.