LANCASTER, Ohio — Chaos was unfolding at Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster on Thursday as Quinntel Bagley was escaping police custody.
He had been arrested that morning in Grove City for a reported kidnapping. Bagley, a registered sex offender, has a history of violence.
Across the street from the hospital, Lacey was home with her two young daughters.
They didn’t hear anything when Bagley allegedly broke into their house through the window, leaving a trail of puddles from his shoes that were wet from a nearby creek as he made his escape.
The children then noticed the water on the floor, and Lacey turned to see Bagley, still in handcuffs, walk out of her bedroom.
“He said he didn’t want to hurt anybody. He just wanted keys to my car and so I said, 'That is fine. I will get you the keys',” said Lacey, who asked us not to use her last name.
She locked her children in their bedroom and walked Bagley to the living room, and handed him her keys.
“He saw some money we had laying out in a bank envelope he took that, and my phone was laying on the couch he took that. He made me unlock it. He made a phone call, I think to his mother. After that was done I tried a few more times to get him to leave and every time he would go to a door, a police officer would drive by and he would get spooked again,” Lacey said.
After about 15 minutes, Lacey finally got him to leave through the side door.
“He had me cover him up with a blanket I had lying around to cover up his handcuffs I guess and I finally did get him to out the door, as soon as he walked out, I shut and locked it, deadbolted it,” she said.
Once on the road, Bagley used Lacey’s phone to call her husband, Branden, and told him what he had done.
“He kept on saying I broke into your house and I took your wife’s keys and her car and her phone and at that point, I was like, 'What in the world is going on?' And I asked where is my wife, where is my kids, are they OK and he said they are ok,” Branden said. “He is like I am sorry, he kept saying I’m sorry.”
Branden and Lacey both called 911.
Police later recovered Lacey’s car, left at an apartment complex in Groveport, but after an extensive search, there was no sign of Bagley.
Five days later, Bagley is still on the run.
Grove City police are working to track down leads, encouraging people to stay on the lookout for Bagley. He is considered armed and dangerous.
Lacey and Branden are eager to see him back in custody.
“Your home is supposed to be the place you feel safe and we don’t feel safe anymore. I think that is gonna take a lot of time to get comfortable in our own home again,” Lacey said.