Prison officials hope tattoos on killer will lead to capture

? Still with no idea where he might be, Kansas corrections officials Friday released photos of the numerous tattoos of convicted murderer John Manard, who escaped from Lansing Correctional Facility with help from a woman who ran a program in which inmates trained dogs for adoption.

“He can change his hair color, he can shave his beard, but he’s not going to get rid of those tattoos,” said Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Miskell. “With the number and size of the body markings he has, it would be difficult to remove them.”

Manard, 27, serving a life sentence for the 1996 killing of an Overland Park man during a carjacking, has at least six large tattoos on his upper torso and arms.

On the inside of his upper left arm is a yin and yang circle with bear claws. His lower left forearm sports a nude woman and a tiger head, while his upper left arm has a skull with horns and a feather.

His right forearm is nearly covered in tattoos, including a skull with a viper tongue. His upper right chest has a large skull, and across his abdomen is the word “Hooligan” in large stylized letters. There’s a small cross on his upper left leg.

Manard escaped Sunday morning, hidden in a dog crate that other inmates helped load into a van driven by Toby Young, 48, of Wyandotte County, who founded the Safe Harbor Prison Dog Program. Since 2004, Young brought dogs rescued from area animal shelters to inmates, including Manard, for training so they could be adopted as pets.

“We don’t have any idea where they are. They could be anywhere,” Miskell said Friday.

Miskell said Young had more than $10,000 in cash and two handguns are missing from her home. She also purchased hair dye and an electric razor that could be used to alter appearances.

The state has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to Manard’s arrest.

By the time prison officials announced Manard’s escape, he and Young had nearly a six-hour head start. Young’s van was found Tuesday at a Bonner Springs storage facility she had rented, 10 miles south of the prison.

A witness saw Young in a blue Chevrolet sport utility vehicle the previous week, but her family and friends said they were unaware she had obtained an SUV.

Miskell said she could have bought or borrowed the vehicle, adding whoever provided Young the vehicle shouldn’t worry about being charged if they weren’t involved in planning the escape.

He also said people who talked to Young before the escape should think back to what might have been said.

“If there somebody talking to Toby about the weather in New Mexico or anywhere else, if somebody heard Toby talking about a good friend living somewhere else, they should call us,” Miskell said. “In isolation it might seem insignificant, but in terms of a pattern, it could give us another substantial lead to pursue.”

Young is a white female, 5-foot-1 and 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Manard is white, with red or auburn hair and hazel eyes. He is about 6-foot-2 and weighs 190 pounds.