Suspect in 3 Southland Killings Caught

A Los Angeles man wanted in connection with three murders was arrested in Newark, Ohio, on Tuesday, 11 days after escaping from Cook County Jail in Chicago, where he was awaiting sentencing for armed robbery, authorities said.

Borrowing a ruse from legendary bank robber John Dillinger, Vincent Bruce, 26, escaped from jail using a bar of soap carved to resemble a gun.

Bruce and his girlfriend, Catherine Reed, 29, also of Los Angeles, are suspects in the strangling deaths of two men in Inglewood and the March, 1987, stabbing death of a West Los Angeles woman.

Reed is being held in Los Angeles, and extradition proceedings against Bruce began Tuesday. He was arrested while sleeping in a stolen car by a highway, police said.

“Bruce is a real violent, mean type,” Los Angeles Police Detective Kirk Mellecker said. “Anyone who stands in his way is going to be murdered. It’s as plain and simple as that.”