How did ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’ get to the Coast? Escapee faces new charges after manhunt.
Convicted killer Michael Wilson, also known as “Pretty Boy Floyd,’ now faces charges of carjacking and felony escape on top of the two life sentences he is already serving following a prison escape this weekend.
Wilson, 51, who broke out of the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County over the weekend and was captured Tuesday in Saucier after the car he was driving ran out of gas.
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell said in a press release on Wednesday that Wilson made his way from Rankin County to Jackson County after catching a ride with a woman from Hattiesburg. Wilson allegedly told the woman he needed a ride to his truck that broke down.
When Wilson and the woman got to Old Biloxi Road in the Latimer community, Wilson turned off her car and ordered her to get into the trunk of the car or he would kill her, Ezell said.
The woman told deputies that Wilson then punched her, pushed her out of the car and kicked her while she was on the ground when she refused to get into the trunk. Wilson then jumped into her car and drove off, Ezell said.
The victim said she flagged down a passing car and asked the driver to call the police. Ezell said a George County deputy first responded and sat with the victim until and Jackson County deputies got there.
Harrison County deputies caught up and arrested Wilson at School and Success Roads in Saucier at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. The Mississippi Department of Corrections said Wilson would have led Coast authorities on a police chase had the stolen vehicle not run out of gas.
This was the third time Wilson had escaped from prison. Wilson previously escaped from South Mississippi Correctional Institute in Leakesville in July 2018. In that case, he claimed he feared for his life behind bars.
Wilson also escaped from the Greene County jail in 2001 while serving time on burglary charges, MDOC Assistant Deputy Commissioner Leo Honeycutt said.
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 4:23 PM.
