Forum News Service
Authorities in Sawyer County are continuing to search for a prison escapee who has been on the run for nearly two weeks, and is a suspect in a home invasion.
Authorities say Kaeden Dumholt escaped from the minimum-security Black River Correctional Center in Jackson County, Wis., sometime between 9 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. Aug. 2.
Dumholt is a suspect in a home invasion and subsequent high-speed chase in Sawyer County on Aug. 6, and is considered armed and dangerous. The Sawyer County Sheriff's Office first asked for the public's help in locating Dumholt a week ago.
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"During the past several days, numerous tips about Dumholt's whereabouts have been followed up (and) over 20 residences have been searched, but Dumholt has not been located," Sawyer County Sheriff Mark Kelsey reported in a news release Friday.
The Sheriff's Office describes Dumholt, 20, as white with brown hair and brown eyes, about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing 145 pounds.
Authorities said Friday that Dumholt may now have very short, buzz-style hair and may have sustained facial injuries.
Local, county and state law enforcement agencies are involved in the search for Dumholt, who was serving a sentence for vehicle theft and fleeing police and also had a conviction for substantial battery. He has ties to Sawyer and Bayfield counties, officials said.
Sawyer County sheriff's deputies responded to a report of a home invasion on Aug. 6 in which two men entered a residence and confronted the homeowner at gunpoint. Both men left the residence, and the homeowner was uninjured, according to the Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's Office said Dumholt is a suspect in that incident.
A few minutes after the home invasion, a high-speed chase of a suspect vehicle began on Wisconsin Highway 77 in Hayward. The vehicle was identified as a vehicle stolen from Jackson County, the Sheriff's Office said. Authorities pursued the vehicle to a location on Sawyer County Highway E, where the vehicle's lone male occupant - believed to be Dumholt - fled on foot.
A search of the area failed to locate the suspect.
Anyone with information about Dumholt or his whereabouts is asked to call the Sawyer County Sheriff's Office at (715) 634-4858 or (877) 699-4112, or dial 911.
