BURLINGTON — Boone County corrections officers foiled an escape attempt Monday night by a man charged with murder, said Jailer Ed Prindle.

        Richard A. Lambert, 24, of Petersburg was implicated in a plot to dig out mortar between cinder blocks in the maximum-security cell where he was being held on the ground floor, authorities said.

        “Rest assured, they were a long way from breaking out,” Mr. Prindle said, “but I don't want to elaborate. We don't want to apprise inmates on the best approaches to take in attempting to break out.”

        He said even if Mr. Lambert was able to get out of the cell, he would have still been locked into a secure part of the jail.

        The removal of mortar was discovered at 11 p.m. Monday during a routine check. Officers were conducting an investigation Tuesday into the escape attempt, and no additional charges have been filed against Mr. Lambert or anyone else.

        Mr. Lambert has been held at the jail since his arrest in March 2001 in connection with the slaying of 22-year-old Rebecca Ritchie of Covington.

        A trail of blood in Mr. Lambert's pickup and on a Petersburg boat ramp led police to suspect that he had killed someone. Police said they didn't know who the victim was, however, until April 2001, when Ms. Ritchie's body was found in the Ohio River and identified.

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