As senior Lara Deering was watching television Monday morning, there was a knock at her door and three Eau Claire police officers entered saying, “Police – is anybody home?”

The officers stopped by to notify the four female residents of 540 Union St. that John A. Jones, a 31-year-old jail inmate, escaped from a jail transport van in their neighborhood that morning.

“They warned us to lock all our doors and shut all our windows,” Deering said. “I was shocked – a little scared.”

The officers searched the basement and then moved on to other houses to continue their hunt.

Jones, who escaped at 10:15 a.m. Monday, was found at 8 a.m. Wednesday, said Lieutenant Brad Venaas of the Eau Claire police department.

The handcuffs and shackles Jones was wearing were found in a garage on the 500th block of West Grand Avenue. Jones was found at his girlfriend’s house on Sumac Lane on the south side of Eau Claire, Venaas said.

Jones called his girlfriend Wednesday morning and she then called the police. Jones went to his girlfriend’s house and the police were waiting for him when he arrived, Venaas said. Jones was arrested without incident.

Deering was relieved when she heard Jones was found.

“It is one less thing to worry about,” she said.

Jones, who was incarcerated for forgery, was returning to the Eau Claire County Jail after a court appearance in Dunn County when he escaped from the vehicle at Fifth Avenue and Lake Street. The back door of the Dunn County Sheriff Department’s van was insecure, Venaas said.

“He was able to get out of the vehicle and left on foot,” he said.

Although the escape took place relatively close to campus, David Backstrom, chief of University Police, said there was never a concern that Jones was on campus.

There was one call of a possible sighting in the Hibbard area, but the description did not match that of Jones, he said.

“Someone was cautious and they were concerned so they called it in,” Backstrom said, adding that an officer checked it out with no incident.