BY KEVIN ALDRIDGE and MARIE McCAIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[leis]](/editions/1998/10/08/leis_130x184.jpg)
Sheriff Simon Leis holds the bedsheet used by Wiiliam Burress in his jail escape.
(Glenn Hartong photo)
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After smashing a window and dropping from a roof of the Hamilton County Justice Center, William Samuel Burress died apparently of a heart attack Wednesday in an alley nearly a mile away.
The West Chester man covered the distance before dawn despite a head injury suffered when he dropped more than 20 feet from one roof to the next. His will to get away carried him on a haphazard journey through major intersections, abandoned buildings, side streets, back alleys and overgrown vacant lots in Over-the-Rhine.
His body was found shortly after 6 a.m. in the 1500 block of Elm Street.
Initially, police speculated Mr. Burress may have died from the head wound. But Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Carl Parrott, Jr., said late Wednesday Mr. Burress, who had a heart condition, died of a heart attack possibly associated with the stress of his escape and flight.
Known as "Peanut," the 49-year-old inmate was awaiting trial on a $500,000 cash bond.He had been indicted on two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of robbery and one count of receiving stolen property. Police allege he and another man robbed the Fifth Third Bank at 1201 Harrison Ave. on Aug. 19.
W. Burress
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Police said Mr. Burress had an "extensive track record" and was convicted of a number of crimes including attempted murder. Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis said at around 3:30 a.m. Mr. Burress broke the window in his cell using a metal handle from a mop bucket.
The cell is equipped with listening devices used by corrections officers to monitor inmates, but Mr. Burress had placed wet towels and toilet paper over them to muffle the sound. Officials did not know how Mr. Burress obtained the metal handle.
Described as 5-foot-8 and 195 pounds, he squeezed through a nearly 11-inch-by-18-inch opening in the shattered glass and descended three levels down the side of the jail, or about five stories, to the ground.
Wearing his blue Hamilton County jail uniform, Mr. Burress climbed to the roof outside his cell. He then climbed down a "makeshift rope" composed of long underwear, bedsheets and towels to about 20 feet above the ground.
"We believe that he either slipped or that this makeshift rope broke on him and he apparently hit his head after he fell," Sheriff Leis said.
A clerk at the justice center, who was taking a break outdoors, heard noises that were described as sounding like gravel hitting the pavement.
"The clerk outside heard a loud thump followed by someone exclaiming, "Oh! My head,' " the sheriff said.
The clerk saw Mr. Burress drop from the last level onto Ninth Street and run off.
Nearly three hours later, police found Mr. Burress'body. A time of death was not released.
Hamilton County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett said Wednesday's escape was only the second successful escape in the past 10 years at the jail.
The facility, built in 1985, has the capacity to house about 1,400 inmates, but holds only 1,150.
Mr. Barnett said Mr. Burress was the only inmate to escape the facility through one of the windows, which are about an inch thick and composed of seven layers of glass.
"There have been attempts . . . but no one has ever gotten completely through them before," he said. "Those windows were designed to be unbreakable."
Sheriff Leis said security measures are not going to change. "Our security is ample at this facility," the sheriff said. "This is just one of those things that happens."
Burress was well regarded before arrest
Escape is 3rd in year at county facilities
![[leis]](/editions/1998/10/08/leis_389x550.jpg)