PORTAGE, WI (WSAU) — Authorities in Columbia County have arrested one prison worker accused of helping two inmates escape last week.
Holly Zimdahl, 46, was booked into the Columbia County Jail on Friday for one charge of being a party to the crime of escape. Officials say she was a food service worker at the Columbia Correctional Institute where she met Thomas Deering and James Newman.
Details of how involved she was in the plan to escape remain under investigation, but officials say they believe she meet Deering and Newman in the parking lot of a grocery store in Poynette just before their vehicle was spotted on Highway 51 southbound.
Investigators say other arrests in the case are possible, and they are continuing to interview witnesses both in the prison and in the community to see who may have helped them escape.
Deering was convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault in Milwaukee County. Newman was found guilty for three felonies including escape, kidnapping and theft in Jackson County, and discharging a firearm in Brown County.
They were arrested in Rockford, Illinois after an employee at a shelter recognized their images and notified police.
