Killer Recaptured in Hancock County, Ga.

SPARTA, Ga.- A convicted killer who escaped from Hancock State Prison is back in custody.

State and local officials combed parts of Middle Georgia on Monday for 27-year-old Richard Joel Jenkins, 27 who escaped Sunday night. The state Department of Corrections announced Monday night that Jenkins has been apprehended.

The Hancock County sheriff’s office says officers found Jenkins about five miles from Sparta around 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Jenkins was serving a life sentence for killing Bibb County store clerk Gopal Patel in November 2004.

The 48-year-old Patel was shot after two masked men burst into the store and demanded money.