My name is Kenneth Wilma. December 17, 2010 marked the third day of my escape from

Grovener Penitentiary in Crystalless, Michigan, and my second day in the Wolf Paws State

Forest with another convict, Ron Hyle. We've been on the run since paying off two guards

to help us escape during a work detail on the side of Interstate 60. Our plan had been

to move on foot for three days until we reached a safe house in Lemus. To reach it we had

to take a complicated route through miles of woods in the first night and then into the

state forest, careful to avoid any marked trails, which slowed us down more than we had

thought it would. Ron had planned the route based on one guard's knowledge and map making

attempt of the area, he had grown up in the southern part of the state. We figured

the search for us wouldn't extend too deeply into the forest since it was by far the

most laborious way to get anywhere, but to guarantee our safety we'd been willing to endure

the cold hike for as long as it took. We slept press against logs that first night, shivering

in the thin clothes we'd worn under our prison fatigues. We hadn't been able to fortify ourselves

with anything more, so it was not to arouse suspicion when being transported to the work

detail. We had forty dollars in cash each, and Ron was carrying a disposable cell phone

that he would use for exactly one call, to be placed to his contact at the safe house

in the farming town of Lemus, when we got close to it. The escape had cost us all the

money we had in the world. So far at least we'd gotten lucky. We'd counted on the guards

to give conflicting reports about where we seemed to be headed when the escape happened

on the side of the road, and by nightfall we'd only seen two helicopters in the sky and

felt no real threat of discovery. We hiked through the cold, eating only granola

bars and slim gyms. It snowed two inches as I slept while Ron kept watch. When I woke

...