Shootout fugitives waive extradition rights, will be sent back to Georgia

Two men accused in the slaying of two Georgia prison guards this week have waived their rights and are being extradicted to Georgia.

Both men, Ricky Dubose, 24, and Donnie Rowe, 43, appeared in a Rutherford County courtroom this morning.

According to the Putnam County Sheriff's Office in Georgia, Dubose is a member of the "Ghostface Gangsters" - a white-supremacy gang prison gang largely operating in Georgia and some parts of Florida.

Dubose and  Rowe, are accused of killing Georgia State Corrections Department officers Christopher Monica, 42 and Curtis Billue, 58.

Authorities said Monica is white and Billue is black.

Sheriff Howard Sills of Putnam County said the inmates fatally shot the guards on a prison transport bus then carjacked a green 2004 Honda Civic and fled. They later tied up a couple inside Bedford Home, led police on a chase.

Rutherford County authorities captured the men after a police chase ended on Interstate 24 in Murfreesboro.

Sills said the fugitives had been armed with the officers’ .40 caliber Glock pistols when they fled the bus, carjacked a 2004 green Honda Civic and fled west toward Eatonton, about 70 miles southeast of Atlanta.

Sills said investigators were trying to determine how the two got out of the inmate cage and into the driver's compartment. 

According to the Georgia Department of Corrections the bus was headed to Jackson Georgia Diagnostic Classification State Prison. Officials said there were 31 other inmates on board the bus – all which were accounted for and who were all at different facilities across the state on Friday.

At some point the fugitives entered Tennessee where officials say they forced their way into a Bedford County, Tenn. home at gunpoint, tied up a couple who lived inside, ate their beef stew and pilfered their valuables.

On Friday, a neighbor of the home invasion victims - whose name is being withheld to protect his identity - said he was told by police that those involved had received threats from white supremacist groups.

But Rutherford County Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh said there had been no reports to his office.

“We have heard nothing concerning any threats,” he said.

Both men had been held without bond Friday at the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center in Murfreesboro.

Bedford County, a rural community with a population of just over 45,000 people, is located less than an hour south of Nashville and borders Rutherford County where authorities captured the pair Thursday night.
It’s county seat is Shelbyville, where just under half of the county’s population live.

“It’s an extremely small town. Everybody in the county knows everyone else,” said Rachel Hempstead, a barista at The Southern Cup on Main Street in Shelbyville.

Hempstead, 24, said she heard about the home invasion Thursday afternoon.

“Word travels fast here, she said. “It circulated a lot on Facebook, everyone was telling everyone to stay inside.”

Holly Morlock, who works at the Cheesecake Factory near where the men were caught, said people who live around there are armed and know how to protect themselves.
 
“That’s what you get for messing with people in the country,” she said.

Authorities said both men are awaiting extradition back to Georgia where they will face homicide charges in the Tuesday killings.

Fizhugh said multiple agencies involved in a nationwide manhunt for the pair this week will need to determine what additional charges will be filed against the men before an actual bond will be set.

In addition to Rutherford County (where a police chase ended and officials captured the pair Thursday), as well as Putnam County, Ga. (where the men reportedly escaped custody) the men, Fitzhugh said, are accused of crimes in Moore and Bedford counties which are both in Tennessee.

"I'm waiting on some telephone calls from Georgia to see what the next step is," Fitzhugh said. "The TBI (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) mostly likely will be the one that will lead on that. We'll need a lot of coordination on this. They're going to have to talk to every district attorney to make a determination ... what will the charges be. They're will be a lot of sorting out to do."

Mariah Timms contributed to this report. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.