Body of escaped murderer found in Ohio River at Henderson

A convicted murderer who escaped last week from an Ohio prison by hiding in a trash container was found dead on Sunday after his body was spotted floating in the Ohio River at Henderson.

The discovery brought to a close a manhunt for the missing inmate, Bradley Gillespie, 50. Authorities said another inmate, James Lee, 47, was captured last Wednesday after the two escaped earlier in the week from the Allen/Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio.

Henderson Police Chief Sean McKinney said at a news conference that authorities got a call Sunday about a body floating in the river very near where Gillespie was last seen when his officers captured the other inmate during a pursuit of a stolen car. Gillespie, a passenger in the vehicle, fled on foot, prompting a multiday manhunt, he said.

“A preliminary investigation indicates we recovered the body of Bradley Gillespie from the river,” McKinney said, adding police, firefighters, a coroner’s office and others responded when the tip came in of a body in the river. Reports said tattoos and physical inspection helped with the preliminary identification.

McKinney said an autopsy is planned Tuesday.

Lee was serving a sentence imposed in 2021 for burglary and safecracking. McKinney said Gillespie was imprisoned since 2016 and was convicted of a double homicide.



Henderson Police Chief Sean McKinney holds a press conference after officials pulled what they believe to be the body of escaped Ohio prisoner Bradley Gillespie from the Ohio River in Henderson, Ky., Sunday afternoon, May 28, 2023. The discovery of the body ends the five-day search in Henderson County for the convicted killer who reportedly escaped from the Allen/Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio, on Tuesday along with inmate James Lee. (MaCabe Brown/Evansville Courier & Press via AP)