Helping prison inmates rehabilitate dogs was an all-consuming passion for Toby Young. At times, it was difficult for her to pry herself away from it – even for a family vacation.

“Two weeks off sounded like a great idea. But about halfway through our vacation I realized that I was pretty darn bored!!” Young wrote last month in her journal at safeharborprison-dogs.com. “There’s just so much relaxing and family and eating that you can do. … And I’m so glad to be back in business.”

Now, Young is suspected of smuggling a convicted murderer out of Lansing Correctional Facility in a dog crate and going on the lam with him. Authorities believe she helped orchestrate the escape of John Manard, 27, one of the participants in her Safe Harbor Prison Dogs program.

It’s an escape that’s perplexed people who worked with Young, including Midge Grinstead, executive director of the Lawrence Humane Society. When the Lawrence shelter last year took in dozens of animals that had been seized from a home in Miami County, Young arrived and took in four of them for her program.

“She runs an excellent rescue group,” Grinstead said. “They have a really good prison program. It’s really sad to see she jeopardized that whole program.”

Grinstead said she thought that Young, a “kind and compassionate” person, may have been manipulated by Manard.

“I think at some point in our life, we’re all gullible. We all trust somebody who isn’t honest or on the up-and-up,” Grinstead said. “I worry for her safety.”

Many of those who know Young – a 48-year-old mother of two adult sons – are declining to give interviews about her. Employees at Tuttle Veterinary Clinic in Basehor, which treated many of the animals in Young’s program, had no comment, nor did officials with the Safe Harbor program.

Young’s husband, a firefighter who lives in Kansas City, Kan., also declined comment Thursday.

A desire to help

Some inmates at Lansing Correctional Facility knew Young simply as “the Dog Lady.”

She was the short woman with light brown hair and brown eyes who brought dogs destined for death to the prison to be trained so they could find new homes. She spoke passionately about her desire to help the dogs and inmates improve their lives.

Young, a dog trainer, started Safe Harbor in 2004 with the goal of saving about 20 dogs. But in the first year it saved 650, according to the agency’s statistics.

• 6News video: Toby Young has ties with Lawrence community
• Inmate, cohort described as armed, dangerous (02-16-06)
• Dog trainer also sought in Lansing inmate escape (02-14-06)
• Lansing inmate escapes (02-13-06)

“I never started this Prison Dog Program with any goal of getting personal rewards or recognition,” she wrote in November 2005. “I simply wanted to save dogs. As many as I could. And in the process I realized that I could have a positive impact on the lives of men at the same time.”

In her writings, Young describes developing a bond with the medium-security inmates who participated in the program. She held special “celebration dinners” with them to mark each 100th adoption of dogs rehabilitated by the program.

“(T)o those inside the prison, the dinners are a much-anticipated milestone,” she wrote. “Some of them call the dinners ‘a taste of freedom.'”

The escape

Manard, who was serving life in prison for the 1996 killing of Donald England in Overland Park, was frequently quoted in news stories in which he praised the program.

No one knows exactly how the escape plot began, and authorities have declined to speculate on whether the pair are romantically involved, but investigators say they know this much:

At some point, Young and Manard put together an elaborate plan for the escape. It included Young getting together more than $10,000 in cash, taking two guns from her home, buying a vehicle and renting a storage area without her family’s knowledge, and even buying hair dye and an electric razor that could be used to alter appearances.

The two apparently talked seven inmates into helping Manard get into a dog crate and loading the crate onto a van Young used to transport the dogs. Authorities say Young then calmly drove out of the prison.

The respect Young developed at the prison while running the program may have been central to the plot. Prison authorities say two guards who were supposed to check the van before it left didn’t – apparently because they recognized and trusted Young.

So far, the plan has worked. Young and Manard have disappeared, and prison officials say they have no idea where the pair may be. The state has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to Manard’s arrest.

Law enforcement bulletins say Young should be considered armed and dangerous, but prison officials also say they are deeply concerned for her safety.

On Wednesday, Young’s father read an emotional statement, saying that family members “simply don’t have any ideas why or how this happened” but telling Young they loved her and pleading with her to come home.

Corrections Department spokesman Bill Miskell said prison inmates and employees are “trying to grasp what has happened” and are struggling with the feeling that their trust was betrayed.

“Toby Young was well-known and well-liked by everyone,” Miskell said. “It appears that her familiarity with the staff may have played a part in her ability to help John Manard escape.”

Training that Young received on dealing with inmates made the boundaries between volunteers and inmates “extremely clear,” Miskell said.

“Our training emphasizes to volunteers what they should and should not do for the inmates,” he said. “There is no doubt that she knew the boundaries.”

Miskell said Lansing officials still hope the impact of the case will not include ending the dog rehabilitation program. He said the program has proven valuable in socializing inmates and giving them incentive to follow rules.

The main problem, he said, is no one can figure out how to keep the program running without Toby Young.