Update: Adamsville’s bacon bandit back behind bars

An inmate who escaped from the Adamsville City Jail has been captured again.

Brian Cody Bigbee, 22, was arrested Tuesday on charges of shoplifting bacon from a nearby Wal-Mart. Bigbee then escaped from the jail at about 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies were tipped off to Bigbee’s whereabouts late Thursday night. They moved in on an apartment in the 3800 block of Coalburg Mountain Road, where Bigbee was found sleeping on a couch. He was taken back into custody. 

It all started when Bigbee was arrested Tuesday on charges that he stole bacon from a Walmart store in Adamsville. 

According to Police Chief Robert W. Carter (no relation to NJN Associate Editor Robert L. Carter), Bigbee got out of a recreation yard at the jail, and was seen heading toward a train running on the BNSF Railway line that is not far away. That led authorities to believe he might be headed to Fultondale or Tarrant — but the rail line that serves those cities is operated instead by CSX Transportation.

Bigbee was pursued by police officers, but he then got off the train and disappeared. A subsequent search of the area came up empty.

Lawmen also thought at first that Bigbee’s father might be helping his son get away. But Carter said that the father was not involved, and was instead cooperating with them.

“He’s not dangerous. He does not have a violent history,” Carter said. “He’s a self-admitted drug abuser.”

Lawmen called off the search later in the day, in hopes that Bigbee would not go far, which he didn’t.

Meanwhile, Carter and his department will make an effort to see that another inmate doesn’t get loose from their jail.

“It’s the only escape I’ve had in at least seven years,” he said. “We will be making alterations.”

Robert Carter — the journalist, not the police chief — contributed to this report.