High profile TDCJ escapee Arcade Comeaux dead of natural causes

By Tonya Peters, Backgate Website

Notorious prison escapee Arcade Comeaux, 53, died in a Armarillo prison last week after complaining to staff of shortness of breath and chest pains. Several corrections officers were fired or retired after the convicted sex offender, believed disabled, pulled out a smuggled pistol, fired it and fled on foot while in a van en route from Huntsville to Beaumont in 2009.

He disarmed and handcuffed two officers. Comeaux spend several days free as he attempted to elude law enforcement and prison officials in the Houston area until his arrest by Houston Police Officers and Federal Marshals. Comeaux was serving a sentence of life in prison for a 1998 aggravated sexual assault conviction in Brazos County, northwest of Houston.

He was given two extra life sentences after being convicted of stabbing his wife and another person in 1999 while she visited him in prison. Both survived the attack. He also received more prison time for the escape. The Comeaux ordeal brought about changes in the way the TDCJ transported inmates and general security issues.