--- title: Mississippi Murder Suspect Escapes From Jail description: Rafael McCloud briefly took another jailer hostage before escaping canonical: https://time.com/4245108/manhunt-mississippi-rafael-mccloud/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-02T18:30:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:33:29.131Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Manhunt Underway for Mississippi Murder Suspect Who Escaped From Jail og:description: Rafael McCloud briefly took another jailer hostage before escaping og:url: https://time.com/4245108/manhunt-mississippi-rafael-mccloud/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e84f379f74627a2/69887ff5cf40a8020cc423d7/rafael-mccloud.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Rafael McCloud og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Manhunt Underway for Mississippi Murder Suspect Who Escaped From Jail twitter:description: Rafael McCloud briefly took another jailer hostage before escaping twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e84f379f74627a2/69887ff5cf40a8020cc423d7/rafael-mccloud.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Manhunt Underway for Mississippi Murder Suspect Who Escaped From Jail by [Erik Oritz / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Erik Oritz / NBC News Mar 2, 2016 6:30 PM CUT  Rafael McCloud is escorted to a holding cell by police investigators in Vicksburg, Miss., on July 1, 2015. Rafael McCloud is escorted to a holding cell by police investigators in Vicksburg, Miss., on July 1, 2015.Justin Sellers—AP by [Erik Oritz / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Erik Oritz / NBC News Mar 2, 2016 6:30 PM CUT A manhunt was underway Wednesday morning in Mississippi for a capital murder suspect who briefly took a jailer hostage before bolting from the facility, authorities said. Close to 30 officers and K9 units are involved in the search for 33-year-old Rafael McCloud since he managed to bust out from the Warren County Jail at around 5:30 a.m. local time, Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong told The Associated Press. McCloud, who is considered armed and dangerous, used a makeshift weapon to threaten the jailer and force him to turn over his pants and a jacket, reported [NBC affiliate WLBT](http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/31363583/capital-murder-suspect-escapes-warren-county-jail "undefined") in Jackson. Warren County… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/manhunt-underway-escaped-mississippi-murder-suspect-rafael-mccloud-n530321?cid=par-time%5F20160302 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4245108/manhunt-mississippi-rafael-mccloud/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4245108/manhunt-mississippi-rafael-mccloud/"},"headline":"Manhunt Underway for Mississippi Murder Suspect Who Escaped From Jail","datePublished":"2016-03-02T18:30:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:33:29.131Z","description":"Rafael McCloud briefly took another jailer hostage before escaping","url":"https://time.com/4245108/manhunt-mississippi-rafael-mccloud/","keywords":["Crime","Mississippi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e84f379f74627a2/69887ff5cf40a8020cc423d7/rafael-mccloud.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Erik Oritz / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e84f379f74627a2/69887ff5cf40a8020cc423d7/rafael-mccloud.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rafael McCloud","caption":"Rafael McCloud","creditText":"Justin Sellers—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4245108/manhunt-mississippi-rafael-mccloud/","name":"Manhunt Underway for Mississippi Murder Suspect Who Escaped From Jail"}}]}] ```