The search is over.
A Broward murder suspect who slipped away from the courthouse and has been on the run for a week was recaptured late Wednesday.
Dayonte Resiles surrendered peacefully at a motel in West Palm Beach, where he was hiding, said Broward Sheriff Scott Israel.
“There’s a great sense of release,” the sheriff said.
Detectives got a tip that the suspect was holed up in the motel and kept an eye on it. Despite a heavy police presence when cops moved in, the saga ended with no force needed.
“Our SWAT team ordered him out of the room. He came out of the room and surrendered without incident,” Israel said. “No force was necessary.”
Resiles’ escape from shackles, his jailhouse uniform and several armed bailiffs captured national attention as people asked: How could that happen?
The sheriff put blame on staffing problems at the courthouse, but emphasized the main mission was to find Resiles.
That happened around 11 p.m. Wednesday in Room 149 of a Days Inn just off 45th Street in West Palm Beach.
The motel was surrounded by yellow police tape early Thursday as Resiles was taken back to Broward and detectives prepared to search the room. Resiles arrived back at the Broward jail about 6 a.m. surrounded by more than a dozen deputies.
Resiles, 21, was charged with the 2014 death of Jill Halliburton Su, who was killed inside her Davie home.
He was set to appear in a fourth-floor courtroom at 9:30 a.m. Friday for a judge to determine whether the death penalty would be on the table if convicted. Before the hearing,Resiles slipped out the back, took off his shackles, changed clothes and managed to get away through a back door.
On Sunday, BSO announced the arrest of four people that helped plan the escape. Three addition people have been arrested this week.
The reward his safe return was also upped Wednesday to $50,000.
Read more from our news partner, the Miami Herald here.
