Cab driver tip lead to arrest of couple suspected in slaying prison guard

A cab driver who picked up a couple suspected in the slaying of a Tennessee prison guard during a courthouse escape, the two told him they were going to an Amway convention but their story just "didn't really seem to wash," he said Thursday.

Mike Wagers said he drove George and Jennifer Hyatte about 115 miles, from Erlanger, Kentucky, to Columbus, and dropped them off at a budget motel.

Authorities say the woman ambushed two prison guards Tuesday as they were leading her husband from a hearing in Tennessee, fatally shooting a guard before the couple sped away.

In an interview with CBS' "The Early Show," Wagers said he didn't make the connection with the killing until he returned to Kentucky and called local police.

"The cover story they gave me didn't really seem to wash too much," Wagers said. "I could kinda see through that. But I had no indication that these guys were really dangerous or they were on the run."

Wagers said he had doubts about the Hyattes' story because they "just didn't fit the type," reports CNN.

According to CBS, George Hyatte and Jennifer Forsyth Hyatte were in a room at an America's Best Value Inn in Columbus and were arrested without a struggle Wednesday night, said Mark Gwyn, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

"We have found weapons," he said. "We don't know if it's the murder weapon, but we're processing those as we speak."

On Tuesday, authorities say Jennifer Hyatte, 31, ambushed two guards as they were leading her 34-year-old husband from a courthouse hearing in Kingston, Tennessee. Guard Wayne "Cotton" Morgan was fatally shot in the escape.

Photo: WLWT