There are many ways that people find reassurance of their faith. Though there is a wide variety of stories about spiritual experiences that act as confirmation of one’s faith, the majority of these experiences likely do no include interactions with escaped inmates.
Patrick Hale, a husband and father, had a truly unique experience when he spotted two escaped inmates from his back door. The outcome left him saying, “If that doesn’t make you believe in Jesus Christ, I don’t know what will.”
Donnie Rowe, 43, and Ricky Dubose, 24, had prison sentences for unrelated assault and armed robbery convictions. They were cellmates among 31 other inmates in a Georgia corrections bus.
The inmates were being taken to Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, but Rowe and Dubose saw it as a chance to escape. Somehow, they managed to get through the gate of what was supposed to be a locked section of the bus.
Officers Christopher Monica and Curtis Billue were overpowered, disarmed, and tragically, fatally shot by the inmates. The two inmates became escapees when they exited the bus.
The other 31 inmates were still locked inside the bus. A driver pulled up behind the bus, so the pair carjacked him.
They drove off in the man’s Honda Civic and they made it their mission to elude police. Though their images began spreading all over the news and social media, they still managed to commit a series of crimes as they stole cars, clothing, food, and money.
At one point, Rowe and Dubose held an elderly couple hostage at gunpoint after invading their home. After holding the couple captive for three hours, the escapees left the home.
They stole valuables such as clothing and jewelry along with the couple’s car. After a 10-mile car chase that involved the pair firing shots at deputies, they crashed the car and ran through the woods.
The woods eventually led them within 300 yards of Patrick Hale’s back door. He had been warned prior to spotting the pair that they were in the area, so he had weapons loaded and ready should he need them to protect himself and his family.
Hale called 911, picked up his young daughter, and prayed like he never had before once he saw them. Rather than hiding in their home, he decided to get in their car and drive away.
Rowe and Dubose then took off their shirts and waved at him to slow down as he backed up his car. The men kept getting closer to the car.
According to KPNX, Hale said, “At that point, I realized that I had two ex-cons wanted for murder that had just shot at law enforcement and nothing to lose. And for some reason they started to surrender and laid down on their stomach on my concrete driveway.”
The inmates lost their weapons in the woods and may have mistaken Hale’s vehicle for a police cruiser. While those two factors likely played a role in the outcome of their surrender, Hale is convinced that God played the biggest role in ensuring his family’s immediate safety as well as getting them captured to protect everyone else from further harm.
