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Criminal Records - Most Wanted |
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Profile |
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Name: Jose Juan Salaz
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Race: Hispanic |
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Age Now: 33 |
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Height: 5'7" |
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Weight: 158 lbs |
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Hair (Color, Description, Facial Hair): Black |
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Eyes (Color and Correction): Brown |
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Wanted for :
Escape from a Penal Institution, Beeville, TX;
Mar 22, 1997
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Location(s) |
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Last Seen : Beeville, TX
Salaz was last seen at the Garza East Prison in Beeville, Texas before he escaped. |
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Possible Location : Houston, TX
Mexico
Cops think Salaz might be traveling back and forth between Houston and Mexico. |
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Last Known : Beeville, TX
Salaz was serving 35 years at the Garza East Prison for Aggravated Kidnapping and two counts of Aggravated Assault on a Police Officer. |
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Traits |
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Case Story |
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Unfinished Business In Texas |
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There's a thorn in the side of the Texas penal system, and his name is Jose Salaz.
In Texas, people who break out of prison don't typically stand a chance at staying on the run. The manhunts for escapees are intense, and the Texas penal system takes its near-perfect record of nabbing escapees seriously. Salaz is their only piece of unfinished business.
That's because cops say Salaz is the only person in the history of the Texas penal system to break out of prison and stay on the lam. Salaz escaped from the Garza East Prison in Beeville, Texas in 1997, and cops desperately want to find him to reclaim their perfect record. |
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Gun Battle At Texas Nightclub |
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Salaz was serving three consecutive 35-year sentences at the prison for his actions on On April 2, 1995.
That day, cops say Salaz and an accomplice kidnapped a bartender at the Fantasia Night Club in Houston and held him hostage. They demanded $5,000 from the club's owner in exchange for the bartender's life -- and arranged the trade to go down in the nightclub parking lot. The owner called Houston police, who went to the parking lot and waited undercover.
When Salaz and his accomplice pulled up in a car, the exchange went as planned. But as officers were given the signal to move in and arrest the men, Salaz opened fire from the vehicle, striking two officers. One officer fired back with a 12-gauge shotgun, but it didn't stop Salaz. He continued his rampage, and stopped only when the car he was in slammed into a police cruiser.
Cops arrested the men, and Salaz was sent to the Garza East Prison in Beeville, Texas. He was supposed to spend the rest of his life locked up in a cell for his crimes. But when he saw an opportunity to escape one foggy night in March 1997, he ran for it. |
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Daring Lone Star Prison Break |
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Cops say that escape opportunity revealed itself in the form of a door that failed to secure completely. According to police, Salaz noticed the slip-up and bolted through the door and headed straight for the fences.
The first fence Salaz scaled was the recreation yard fence -- a barrier approximately 12 feet tall with razor-wire lining on top. Cops say Salaz used his prison-issued jacket to protect himself against the razor-wire, and then headed to the next obstacle: two more vicious razor-lined barriers. Once he made it over all of the fences, he disappeared. To this day, he remains the only prison escapee in Texas history to never be recaptured.
Salaz has scars on his face and both legs from the gunshot wounds during his gun battle with cops. Police say they may have faded slightly faded by now, but will still be visible. Cops think he is probably traveling back and forth between Texas and Mexico. |
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