Correctional center walkaway found dead; suicide suspected

VINITA, Okla. – Overnight, correctional officers at Northeast Oklahoma Correctional Center discovered the body of walkaway Ricky Bauders. Officers found Bauders’ body behind an outdoor storage area on the edge of the minimum-security prison’s grounds.

The building is near a hay field where ODOC K9 officers tracked him yesterday.

ODOC investigators said they believe Bauders went to the storage area during a rainstorm overnight and took his own life.

Both ODOC investigators and investigators with the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiners are working to determine the circumstances around Bauders’ death.

Bauders ran away from the facility around 6 p.m. Tuesday. Since then, ODOC staff and area law enforcement searched for him around the clock. Witnesses last reported seeing him Wednesday morning.

Bauders had previous convictions for grand larceny, drunken driving, drug possession and credit card fraud dating back to 1986.

NOCC has been on lockdown since Bauders’ walkaway.