2 Inmates Escape in Downtown Nashville

By Associated Press

September 28, 2001, 11:39 AM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Two maximum-security prisoners with homemade knives overpowered guards and escaped Friday morning as they were on their way to a hearing on a prior escape attempt.

Lyle Van Ulzen, 35, and Billy Coffelt, 47, were being escorted through an underground tunnel from the city jail to the courthouse.

They took keys from the guards, who were not carrying weapons, and removed their waist chains, leg irons and handcuffs, state Correction Department spokesman Jim Thrasher said.

The guards were not injured but some of their clothes were taken and they were left handcuffed in the tunnel.

Police evacuated downtown streets and several buildings as they searched for the two. Van Ulzen was serving 65 years for two counts of second-degree murder and assault; Coffelt was serving a life sentence for armed robbery, assault with intent to murder and a 1992 escape.

They were going to the criminal justice center for a 9 a.m. court appearance having to do with a 1998 attempted escape from the Riverbend maximum security prison in Nashville, Thrasher said.

Since that escape attempt, the two have been housed at Brushy Mountain Maximum Security Prison in East Tennessee, but they had been brought to Nashville for the hearing. Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press

-- Anonymous, September 28, 2001