Search continues for murder suspect who escaped Dunklin jail

KENNETT, Mo. -- The search continued Tuesday for a murder suspect who escaped from the Dunklin County Jail.

Milton Roy Taylor, 35, of Poplar Bluff, escaped from the Dunklin County jail's exercise yard at about 1:30 p.m. Saturday with the help of two other inmates who helped pull back security wires, Sheriff Bob Holder said.

Taylor, who is black, 6 feet tall and 150 pounds, may be on his way to or in the Poplar Bluff, Mo., area, or perhaps trying to get to Chicago, Holder said. He is considered dangerous.

Taylor was recently arrested for drug trafficking. That arrest came while he was free on bond after being charged with killing Charles "Gene" Kinney, 55, of rural Butler County.

Firefighters found Kinney's body Nov. 13, 2000, in the charred remains of his home. An autopsy determined that he had been shot in the head and was dead before the fire began.

Taylor is scheduled to stand trial Nov. 20 on the murder charge. His alleged accomplice, Michael Todd Estes, 34, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in September and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.