NEWARK, N.J. — A guard who was named in a thank-you note left by two inmates when they chiseled their way out of their cells was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot Wednesday, the same day he was to be interviewed about the jailbreak, authorities said.
The body of Rudolph Zurick, 40, was found at his home in Middlesex County, said attorney Michael Mitzner. Zurick had not been charged in the Dec. 15 break from the Union County jail and had been cooperating with the investigation, Mitzner said.
Zurick was scheduled to be interviewed Wednesday about the daring break by inmates Otis Blunt, 32, and Jose Espinosa, 20. Both remain at large.
The two used photos of bikini-clad women to hide holes they dug through the cinderblock walls of their adjoining cells in a high-security unit, authorities said. They jumped onto a lower roof, then made it over a 25-foot-high fence topped with razor wire.
The inmates left behind a thank-you note, signed with a smiley face, that named Zurick, thanking him for the tools they used — a thick piece of wire and a 10-pound steel water shut-off wheel.
“You’re a real pal! Happy Holidays,” said the note, which also included a drawing of a hand with an upraised middle finger.
The note, Mitzner said, was “definitely sarcastic.”
“There was no way he gave them any help. He was the one who had noticed they were missing.”
Blunt was awaiting trial for robbery and weapons offenses. Espinosa was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to manslaughter in a 2005 drive-by shooting.
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