Two escaped inmates captured in Asheville after weeklong search

The search for two Vance County inmates ended in northeast Asheville just after midnight Tuesday, when Michael Lewis Miles Jr. and Lishawn Knott were taken into custody at a home on Old Farm School Road without incident. Their arrest closed a manhunt that had stretched across county lines and left Buncombe County law enforcement facing the public-safety fallout of a jail break that began more than 250 miles away.

Miles, 33, and Knott, 21, had escaped from the Vance County Detention Center on June 3 at about 2 p.m., according to the FBI. Officials said both men were considered armed and dangerous while they were on the run, and a combined reward of up to $40,000 was offered for information leading to their arrests, including $30,000 from the FBI.

The FBI said state warrants were issued in Vance County charging both men with Escape Local Jail. Investigators said they worked surveillance video, interviewed witnesses, associates and family members, and used court-authorized investigative techniques as they tracked leads that eventually pointed west to Asheville. The SBI also pushed alerts through digital billboards across North Carolina as the search intensified.

Vance County Sheriff Curtis R. Brame said the investigative team included the FBI, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Vance County Sheriff’s Office, the Henderson Police Department and the Granville County Sheriff’s Office. That regional coordination underscored how quickly an escape from a single detention center became a broader law-enforcement effort with implications far beyond Vance County.

The Asheville arrest mattered locally because it ended the threat near a neighborhood street in Buncombe County, where residents woke to the reality that two fugitives were hiding inside the city limits. Authorities have not publicly explained how Miles and Knott escaped from the jail, how they made their way to Asheville, or whether anyone helped them while they were on the run.

Officials also have not said whether the people around the Old Farm School Road home were in danger before the Special Response Team surrounded the residence. The FBI described Miles as 6-foot-1 and about 180 pounds with a prominent neck tattoo, and Knott as 5-foot-10 and about 160 pounds with numerous face tattoos, including a large cross on his forehead. Surveillance video from the jail reportedly showed both men running for an exit, but the central questions remain open: how the escape happened, who may have helped, and whether more charges could follow.