The man accused of terrorizing pedestrians near Philadelphia’s City Hall while wearing a Chucky-style horror mask flew more than 2,500 miles and switched airports twice trying to disappear, but U.S. Marshals tracked him down at a Las Vegas apartment complex and took him into custody without a struggle, authorities said.
Zymire Hughes, 22, is accused of chasing and menacing as many as 16 people during a roughly 30-minute spree near Philadelphia City Hall on August 12, according to police. In one encounter captured on nearby security cameras, he allegedly ran at a 40-year-old jogger while wearing the mask and asked her, “Are you ready to die?” She fled and suffered a leg injury serious enough to require extensive treatment, Philadelphia police said.
A cross-country escape plan
After Philadelphia police identified him and an arrest warrant went out on charges including terroristic threats and simple assault, Hughes allegedly fled the city on August 19, flying out of Trenton-Mercer Airport in New Jersey to Orlando, Florida, before catching a second flight to Las Vegas, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Investigators said he had loose ties to Nevada and had reportedly been living there since earlier this year.
Cornered on Boulder Highway
Surveillance footage and tips eventually led deputy marshals to an apartment complex in the 6500 block of Boulder Highway in southeast Las Vegas, where Hughes was arrested around 8 p.m. on August 25. “The fear that one man brought to the Philadelphia community comes to an end,” Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Clark told reporters afterward.
Hughes made his first court appearance in Las Vegas and waived extradition, meaning Pennsylvania authorities have 30 days to retrieve him from the Clark County Detention Center before he would otherwise be released, a judge told him. He remains held on the Philadelphia warrants pending that transfer.
Sources: CBS News Philadelphia · NBC News · Las Vegas Review-Journal
