Update on Ramone Alston: Sister of inmate Monique Brady arrested for aiding escape from prison

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WTVD) – A second person was charged and arrested for assisting Ramone Alston in escaping and evading arrest.

Alston's sister, Monique Brady, 43, was charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive and harboring an escapee, both felonies.

Alston escaped from correctional officers on August 13 as he arrived for a doctor's appointment at a Hillsborough hospital.

He remained on the run for three days, but was eventually tracked down and arrested at a motel in Kannapolis.

Jacobia Crisp was the first person arrested and charged with aiding and abetting Alston. She reportedly only met him after he was arrested for murder. The two formed a relationship of sorts through phone conversations, according to investigators.

“The investigation is ongoing; additional arrests are possible. We owe it to our community and Maleah (Williams') family to hold everyone who helped Alston accountable for the danger and fear their actions caused,” said Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood.

SEE ALSO | Orange County Sheriff speaks about Hillsborough prison break

Who is Ramone Alston?

Alston was found guilty of shooting 1-year-old Maleah Williams on Christmas Day 2015. The shooting occurred in Chapel Hill. Maleah's mother told ABC11 at the time that the children were outside playing with their Christmas toys and she was holding her daughter when someone in the area started firing shots. She ran away when she realized a bullet had struck Maleah.

“We have no special feelings for Mr. Alston, we are just unhappy with the (Department of Public Safety) and its efforts to keep him in custody, or lack thereof. We wish Mr. Alston and his family nothing but peace, blessings and prosperity,” Maleah's father, Shaquille Williams, said in a statement Tuesday.

Williams added that he was bothered by the fact that he “somehow got out of his shackles.”

Alston and another man, Pierre Je Bron Moore, reached a plea deal in 2019. Alston received a life sentence for the child's murder and Moore received a sentence of 28 to 34 years in prison.

ABC11 has uncovered that Alston recently sought to have his sentence reduced. Records show Alston filed a motion for equitable relief in October 2023.

The 20-page document goes into the evidence and facts of his case, in which Alston claims the state used misleading evidence in his case. The motion was denied in May because a judge said Alston received a fair and full hearing and the claims in the motion for equitable compensation were without merit.

Other refugees in North Carolina

According to DAC, 33 escaped prisoners are on the run in North Carolina.

The youngest escapee is Alston. The longest-running prisoner is Eddie Leonard. He escaped on March 26, 1962. Leonard was in prison for first-degree burglary.

Of the 33, all but two escaped in the 20th century. Alston and Delfino Juarez are the only DAC prisoners who escaped in the 21st century and have not yet been captured. Juarez escaped on September 30, 2000.

Since many prisoners escaped a long time ago, it is not clear how many of the 33 escapees are still alive, according to the DAC.