Casper Escapee Dead Following California Crash
A man who was wanted by Natrona County authorities on an escape charge died last week following a car crash in California.
The Natrona County Sheriff’s Office is no longer looking for 37-year-old Jerome Dunks, who failed to return to the Casper Re-Entry Center earlier this month. Dunks died of injuries he suffered in a car crash on April 17.
Dunks stole a vehicle from Hill’s Auto Sales and took off after leaving the Casper Re-Entry Center.
He was originally sentenced out of Sheridan County.
According to a statement from the City of Oakley, California, officers responded to a "major injury" crash and found two vehicles with major damage: a Chevrolet SUV and a Honda Civic which was reported stolen out of Wyoming.
Dunks, who had been driving the Honda, was severely injured, as was his passenger, 34-year-old Erica Pearce of Montana. Both Dunks and Pearce died of their injuries.
Investigators determined the Honda had been northbound, but moved into the southbound lanes of traffic as it approached an intersection, passing stopped traffic. The Honda then entered the intersection against the red light, while still traveling northbound in the southbound lanes.
The Honda then collided with the SUV, which was eastbound on the intersecting road.
Pearce, like Dunks, had been in a minimum-security detention facility some 10 days prior to the crash. At the time of her death, she had a warrant out for leaving the detention facility.
The nature of their relationship remains unclear. They both left their respective detention facilities about 10 days before the fatal crash.