Inmate who walked away from work crew was nabbed in downtown Pullman

Wayland Savage, the man who escaped an Idaho Department of Correction work crew Tuesday afternoon in Moscow, was arrested by Pullman police at Pullman's Pine Street Plaza around 7 p.m. that night, PPD Operations Commander Aaron Breshears said Wednesday.

Police throughout the Palouse were alerted to be on the lookout for the 34-year-old Savage, who was last seen at the Theophilus Tower on the University of Idaho campus.

Pullman police had received a report earlier that evening of a man who matched Savage’s description at Sunset Mart on Bishop Boulevard. Breshears said officers began investigating, and after reviewing video surveillance in the area, they determined the man was likely the suspect.

Law enforcement found Savage on a trail in downtown Pullman that Breshears said connects to the mart.

Savage was booked into the Whitman County Jail and charged with escape in the first degree. He is being held without bail on an out-of-county warrant.

Savage had been a minimum security inmate at the Idaho Correctional Institution in Orofino, serving a sentence for conviction of grand theft in Canyon County and burglary in Ada County. He was to be eligible for parole March 12, 2026, and his sentence was to be discharged March 11, 2032.

Moscow police said Tuesday that Savage was on an IDOC work crew responsible for cleaning rooms in the Theophilus Tower. He walked away from the crew while they were on site.