2 escape from Bartholomew jail

COLUMBUS, IND. – Bartholomew County authorities are searching for two men who escaped from the county jail in Columbus.\nSheriff Mark Gorbett said jailers noticed Justin James and Matthew Mullins were missing during a head count early Tuesday morning.\nHe said the men apparently escaped through a hatch in a third-floor shower area. Jail guards found chips of paint on the floor below a hatch that allows access to pipes.\nGorbett says the men were likely able to escape the building through a boarded-up hole in the exterior wall. The bricks in that area were removed for construction of a link to the county’s new jail.\nGorbett says it’s not known if the men are still in the Columbus area, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis.