A murder suspect who was accidentally released because of a clerical error remained on the lam Thursday, with Indiana authorities warning anyone against helping him, officials said.
The U.S. Marshals Service offered a $10,000 reward for any information that could help authorities capture Kevin Mason, 28, who has been missing since a week ago Wednesday, Marion County Sheriff’s Col. James Martin told reporters.
A woman, Desiree Oliver, was arrested and accused of assisting Mason.
“We’re going to be very aggressive in pursuing you. We will find you. We will criminally charge you, just as we did Desiree Oliver," Martin said of anyone who might help Mason.
Mason was allowed to walk free after a clerk accidentally deleted “holds” on his record that should have kept him locked up, officials said.
The mistake wasn’t publicly disclosed for six days.
Authorities insisted the delay in publicly acknowledging the error was not a cover-up but instead a maneuver to gain a “tactical advantage.”
“We moved from a covert operation to a more uniform operation,” Martin said Thursday, describing the multiagency search. “Our work last night led to multiple targets throughout the city, multiple leads that we’re pursuing within Indianapolis, and it led us to leads outside of Indianapolis.”
Mason is wanted on a murder warrant out of Minnesota. He was picked up in Indianapolis on Sept. 11 on three different warrants in different jurisdictions out of Minnesota, officials said.
He faces a second-degree murder charge in connection with a shooting in June 2021 in the parking lot of the Shiloh Temple in Minneapolis, in which Dontevius Ahmad Catchings was killed, Minneapolis police have said.
Later that year, police asked for the public's help finding him, with his possibly being in Florida.
