ATLANTA (AP) 鈥� The U.S. Marshals Service said Friday that a convicted killer who was mistakenly released from a Georgia jail has been caught two weeks later in Florida 鈥� ending days of anxiety for the victim's family outside Orlando who feared he might harm them over their role in the trial.
Kathan Guzman, 22, was supposed to spend the rest of his life in prison after admitting he strangled his girlfriend, 19-year-old Delila Grayson, who was found dead in a bathtub in August 2022, Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen told .
However, jail workers in the county south of Atlanta mistakenly released Guzman late last month because they didn鈥檛 read paperwork carefully, failing to see that he鈥檇 been convicted of murder and assault by strangulation, the sheriff said. The sheriff鈥檚 office has not said whether any jail employees are facing disciplinary actions over the release.
Guzman told someone after being freed that 鈥淕od is good鈥� and he believed his release was the result of a higher power, the sheriff told WSB.
The victim's mother, Christina Grayson, wasn鈥檛 told her daughter鈥檚 murderer was on the loose until Tuesday, after the district attorney learned of it, reported.
鈥淚 feel like I鈥檓 a sitting duck,鈥� Grayson told in Orlando.
Her family was sleeping in shifts so that someone was awake at all times, she told the broadcaster, and deputies in Osceola County patrolled her neighborhood as the search continued.
Guzman was arrested 鈥渨ithout incident鈥� Friday at a residence in Ocoee, near Orlando, the U.S. Marshals Service said. Booking records showed he was being held in the Orange County Jail.
鈥淭oday we tracked him down and got him in custody,鈥� said Michael Sonethavilay, deputy commander of the agency's Florida/Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force.
The agency's Southeast Regional Task Force, based in Atlanta, 鈥渄id some digging and found some information that he may be in Florida,鈥� Sonethavilay said. They got in touch with the Florida task force, which worked with the Orange County Sheriff's Office and picked him up.
On Tuesday, the Georgia Office of Victim Services had discovered it couldn't locate Guzman in the corrections system and notified the prosecutor's office, Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley said in . Mosley said her employees then checked the jail's computer system, which appeared to show Guzman had been let go, so they immediately notified the sheriff.
鈥淎ll appropriate paperwork was sent to the appropriate people. I have no idea why they released this man,鈥� Mosley told the Atlanta newspaper. 鈥淲e are just as disappointed and pissed off as everybody else.鈥�
As of Friday morning, the Clayton County sheriff鈥檚 office had not issued any public notifications about the mistaken release or Guzman's possible whereabouts. A sheriff's spokesman told The Associated Press that the agency was preparing a statement that would be sent to residents through the 鈥淣ixle鈥� alert system, which would also include a photo of Guzman.
Jeff Martin, The Associated Press
