How a Team of Seven Inmates Broke Out of Prison

The Texas 7 were seven prisoners who broke out of the John B. Connally Unit on December 13, 2000, near Kenedy, Texas. Six of the seven were caught because of the TV show America's Most Wanted more than a month later, between January 21 and 23, 2001. One of them killed himself before the police could catch him.

Around 11:20 on the fateful day, the seven prisoners, using a number of well-thought-out strategies, overpowered and restrained nine civilian maintenance supervisors, including their boss, four correctional officers, and three inmates. The break-out took place at lunch and count time, the "slowest" parts of the jail day when particular areas, like the maintenance section, were less closely watched.

In the majority of these schemes, one of the criminals would call someone over while another would strike the unsuspecting victim in the back of the head. After each victim was rendered unconscious, the perpetrators stripped him of some of his clothing, bound and gagged him, and then hid him in a room filled with electrical equipment, alarms, and other electronic devices. From their victims, the assailants stole clothing, credit cards, and identification.

To avoid suspicion from authorities, the group pretended to be jail officers on the phone and made up lies.

Soon after getting out of the Connally Unit jail in Kenedy, Texas, the fugitives got another getaway car, which they say was given to them by the father of one of the men.

They then robbed a Radio Shack store in Pearland, Texas, and stole money and police scanners. On Christmas Eve, the escapees, who had been convicted of a long list of violent crimes like murder, rape, and robbery, broke into a sports store in Irving, Texas, and stole a lot of money and weapons.

In the process, they killed Aubrey Hawkins, a police officer, by shooting him multiple times with different weapons and running him over. The Texas Seven then ran away to Colorado, where they bought a motor home and told people they were Christian missionaries. They spent a month at a trailer park near Woodland Park, Colorado.

On January 22, 2001, police found the Texas Seven after getting a tip from someone who had seen a story about them on the TV show America's Most Wanted.

George Rivas, who was in charge of the gang, was caught with three other men. After being surrounded by police, a fifth fugitive killed himself. Two days later, police found the two people who were still on the run at a hotel in Colorado Springs. 

A deal was made with the two, and they were allowed to appear on live TV before being arrested.

Convictions and Executions

The first person to go to court was the ringleader, George Rivas. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. After that, the other five members of the Texas Seven who were still alive were put on trial, found guilty, and sentenced to death.

Michael Anthony Rodriguez declared his intention to forego all appeals to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals other than the compulsory appeal against the death penalty. In January 2007, a court-ordered psychiatric assessment found that he was mentally fit to decide against filing any additional appeals. He was the first of the six remaining members to be executed on August 14, 2008, twenty months later.

• On February 29, 2012, almost four years after later, George Rivas was put to death.

• On February 4, 2015, Donald Newbury was put to death by a lethal injection.

• On December 4, 2018, Joseph Garcia was executed by injection.

The two remaining members are held in the West Livingston-based Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, where they are both on death row. Both do not yet have an execution date.