Escapee Captured

ROAN MOUNTAIN - An inmate who escaped from the Department of Correction custody Tuesday afternoon has been captured.  Brian Knighton, 34, was being housed at the Northeast Correctional Complex - Annex in Mountain City.  He was assigned to a work crew at Roan Mountain State Park when he escaped just after 3:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

Knighton was captured Wednesday morning just before 11:00 a.m. when a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper spotted him in a stolen vehicle at a Cookeville gas station.  Knighton is believed to have stolen the vehicle from the state park and set a maintenance building on fire.

He is expected to be charged with escape, theft and arson and will be housed at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.  Knighton was serving an 18-year prison sentence for theft and aggravated burglary convictions out of Bradley and Moore counties.  His sentence was set to expire in 2015.