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Community tips help capture Mt. Pleasant inmate
Man captured after walkaway from Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility; schools briefly locked down
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MT. PLEASANT — Schools across the Mt. Pleasant locked down around the lunch hour Wednesday, Sept. 17 as residents secured their homes after police announced an escaped inmate from the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility.
Mt. Pleasant police said they were notified shortly after noon that 49-year-old inmate Dale A. Knajdek had walked into the tree line east of the prison and headed north. Because the walkaway occurred earlier, officers set a large perimeter, issued community alerts and asked schools to lock down while they searched.
Knajdek was taken into custody just after 1 p.m. in the 800 block of W. Courtland St., police said. No injuries were reported, and additional charges related to the walkaway are expected.
Authorities credited numerous tips from residents and businesses with helping narrow the search area. The Henry County Sheriff’s Office, which advised people to secure their doors during the search, later announced the inmate had been located. Knajdek was taken into custody without incident, police said.
This is not Knajdek’s first time evading authorities in recent history.
Court records show Knajdek is serving a sentence for a 2025 Lee County conviction for eluding law enforcement at 25 mph or more over the speed limit, a Class D felony in Iowa punishable by up to five years. A complaint filed in January described a pursuit in Keokuk that began when a trooper attempted a traffic stop and ended when the vehicle became disabled and the driver was arrested.
Supervision filings in Henry County in September 2024 alleged violations that included failing to report and leaving the state without permission while on parole.
The Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility is operated by the Iowa Department of Corrections as a minimum-security institution where eligible inmates can earn work assignments and other privileges geared toward reentry.
Multiple agencies assisted, including the Henry County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa State Patrol, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, New London Police Department and the Iowa Department of Corrections. Further details on any new charges were not immediately available.
Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com
