THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994 TAG: 9406030668
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940603 LENGTH: WASHINGTON, N.C.
He worked odd jobs and ate in soup kitchens, while the people he wanted to kill four years ago bought guns, left their homes and feared for their lives.
{REST} And Thursday, sitting in a police cruiser with his hands shackled to a belt around his waist, admitted killer John Thomas Midgette wondered why everyone was making such a fuss.
``I just wanted a vacation,'' said Midgette, 52, who escaped from Central State Hospital in Petersburg on April 23 and eluded police until his capture Wednesday night in Washington, N.C.
``I had been locked up for four years,'' he said. ``I wanted to get out.''
State police returned Midgette to Virginia on Thursday, almost six weeks after he walked away from an unsecured area of the state mental hospital.
During his short liberation, Midgette said, he worked landscaping jobs or mowed lawns, and visited churches when he needed food. He hitchhiked to Washington, D.C., and visited the monuments.
``I just acted like a tourist,'' he said.
Midgette said he never tried to hide. And he never tried to hurt anyone.
Details of Midgette's escape, his hit list, and the reactions of his potential victims made national news, including the television shows ``48 Hours,'' ``Inside Edition,'' ``American Journal'' and ``America's Most Wanted.''
State police used more than 50 agents in the search and spent $75,000 in overtime. Police Col. M. Wayne Huggins called it ``the single most important investigation'' his department was conducting.
But Midgette said he never knew his escape had caused such a stir.
``I'm really surprised and shocked to hear about it all,'' he told reporters Thursday.
A judge committed Midgette to the hospital in 1991 after finding him not guilty by reason of insanity in the killing of his boss, Mike Jacobs of Isle of Wight County, in 1990. Midgette had named Jacobs on a hit list of six people he wanted dead. Midgette was diagnosed with ``delusional disorder.''
He was allowed out of his maximum-security quarters because his doctors said his condition had improved.
Since Midgette's escape, the hospital has suspended ground privileges for everyone in its 150-person maximum-security ward. Gov. George F. Allen said he will order permanent guidelines tightening privileges for all criminally insane inmates in Virginia.
A state police spokesman would not discuss details of Midgette's escape, saying police are continuing their investigation.
But as two Virginia State Police investigators escorted him to their car Thursday at the Beaufort County Jail in Washington, N.C., Midgette stopped to talk with reporters. He thanked them for showing interest and smiled nervously as they fired questions.
``I didn't intend to hurt anyone,'' he said, when asked whether he ever tried to track down the people on his list. Midgette denied having the hit list, which was reported to police by two of his friends and mentioned in court records.
He said he slept in parks and hitched rides from truck drivers. Investigators think he traveled rural areas near the hospital for several days after his escape, then found a truck stop and hitched a ride north.
Midgette hitchhiked back to North Carolina on Tuesday. He was on his way to a friend's house Wednesday night when a Beaufort County sheriff's deputy spotted him.
Midgette, who grew up in nearby Chocowinity, admitted who he was and cooperated during his arrest. He was carrying some clothes and a shaving kit.
State police Special Agent Robert Jasinowski said police have no indication that Midgette visited anyone who knew he was a fugitive or committed any crimes while he was on the run.
Midgette waived the formal extradition process in North Carolina, and was taken to Virginia State Police headquarters in Chesapeake. Police returned him to Central State on Thursday night.
He could face a felony escape charge in Dinwiddie County, where Central State is located, police said.
Wearing a yellow sport shirt and showing a few days' stubble on his face, Midgette lifted his hand as high as his shackles would allow and waved to reporters Thursday morning as the state police drove him away from Washington.
``It was nice meeting you,'' he said quietly, smiling out of the side of his mouth.
When asked what he would do next, Midgette said, ``I guess I'll go back.''
{KEYWORDS} ESCAPED PRISONER MURDER SHOOTING
by CNB