After nearly eight months evading law enforcement, a murder suspect who dramatically escaped court custody has finally been taken back into police custody, closing one of the most high-profile manhunts in recent memory. The capture of D’Angelo Culmer on Thursday also pulled a second local man into legal trouble, who now faces accusations of helping the fugitive avoid detection, alongside additional drug-related charges uncovered during the arrest operation.
The takedown was carried out by elite law enforcement units: officers from the Internal Security Division, the national police department’s SWAT team, intercepted a grey Nissan Note at the intersection of Tonique Williams-Darling Highway and Premiers Avenue shortly before noon Thursday. Inside the vehicle, Culmer was located alongside a 44-year-old local man, and a subsequent search of the car and both occupants yielded a significant drug seizure: one pound and eight ounces of suspected marijuana, stored in a black backpack. Police estimate the seized narcotics has a street value of approximately $3,200.
Both men were immediately taken into custody and formally cautioned in connection with the alleged drug possession offense. Beyond the drug charges, the 44-year-old also faces an additional accusation of harbouring a fugitive for aiding Culmer during his months on the run.
Culmer’s escape originally unfolded on October 2, 2025, when he fled from the Nassau Street Court Complex on South Street around 3:30 p.m. At the time of his escape, he was facing serious criminal charges: one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder connected to a January 31, 2024, shooting incident. Prosecutors allege that Culmer opened fire on a group of people from a moving vehicle on Ragged Island Street that day, leaving 39-year-old Rudiska Bethel dead and two other victims, Carla Bain and Lorenzo Sands, with non-fatal injuries. Culmer had first been arraigned on these charges at the Magistrate’s Court on February 16, 2024.
Culmer’s escape triggered immediate public scrutiny of security protocols at the court complex, prompting an internal investigation into how a high-risk murder suspect was able to slip away from custody. Just one month after the escape, in November 2025, Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles confirmed that three serving police officers had been placed under investigation over the security breach. Commissioner Knowles also announced at that time that existing security measures at the court complex had already been upgraded to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
By January 2026, Commissioner Knowles confirmed that the three officers had been referred to an internal police tribunal to face disciplinary proceedings over Culmer’s escape. As of that update, one officer had already been placed on interdiction, and a second was expected to receive the same disciplinary action as the tribunal process moved forward. The current status of these internal disciplinary proceedings has not been updated publicly as of Culmer’s recapture.