John Manard, Notorious Kansas Escapee, Dies in Prison

John Manard, infamous for his 2006 escape from a Kansas prison in a dog crate, died at the La Palma Correctional Facility in Arizona at the age of 45. He was serving a life sentence for a 1996 murder when he escaped with the assistance of Toby Young, a prison volunteer with whom he developed a romantic relationship. Young hid Manard in a dog crate, allowing him to leave the prison unnoticed, but they were captured 12 days later in Tennessee. Young, who has since remarried and changed her name to Toby Dorr, expressed her sorrow at Manard's passing in a Facebook post, stating that he is finally free. The escape story gained national attention and was depicted in a book and a Lifetime movie. The cause of Manard's death is currently under investigation pending autopsy results.