ALTUS — A man who escaped from the Jackson County Jail in April 1997 may have returned to Altus recently, and the sheriff’s department is asking for any information anyone may have as to his whereabouts.

Jackson County Sheriff Morris Roberts said Tuesday, “I had a little bird tell me here a while back” that Willie Lee Hill, 44, had been back to town.

Hill was serving a life sentence plus 50 years at the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton on Jackson County charges of kidnapping and robbery with a dangerous weapon when he was brought here for a child custody hearing.

According to an Altus Times report on April 3, 1997, Hill was placed in an upstairs cell at the old jail with four or five other inmates on April 2 of that year. He was able to break a pad lock on the wooden door on the south side of the cell and made his flight down a fire escape.

He had twice previously escaped from correctional facilities — once in 1985 from the Jackson County Jail and again from the Logan County Jail.

At the time of his escape in 1997, Hill was described as 6 feet 3 inches tall, 225 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

Roberts asks that anyone with information call Crime Stoppers at 482-TIPS (482-8477)