****UPDATE: CAPTURED!!! Christopher Rife has been located and placed under arrest!
On March 4, 2020 at 12:06 p.m., the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Central Dispatch Center received a call from the West Central Community Correctional (WCCC) facility in Marysville, Ohio about a male inmate escaping from a corrections officer in Marion County. Dispatch was told that WCCC inmate Christopher Andrew Rife was at a dental appointment at a dentist on Marion Mt. Gilead Road (State Route 95 East) when he ran from the building. Rife was seen running from the area and then entering Walmart.
Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Marion City police officers set up a perimeter around the store and the surrounding area. Video surveillance footage was reviewed by investigators and it showed Rife entering the store and shortly thereafter leaving the store at approximately 11:50 a.m. which was before the escaped was reported. Rife was last seen wearing a black Carhartt hoodie, a yellow shirt, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes. Rife is a 29 year old white male, 6’00” tall, 175 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. Rife has two tear drop tattoos on the corner of his right eye.
In 2018 Rife was sentenced to the Southeastern Correctional Institution for burglary. Rife was put on post release controls and was transferred to the West Central Community Correctional facility on February 25th, 2020.
Officers from the Marion City police department and the sheriff’s office are continuing to search for Rife and are following up on any new leads or information. If you have contact with Rife do not approach him and call 9-1-1 immediately. If you have information on Rife contact the Marion County Sheriff’s Office at (740)382-8244 (option 6). You can also leave an anonymous tip on the TIPS line at (740)375-TIPS (8477).