A convicted murderer recently released on furlough in Bellows Falls who removed his electronic monitoring device has been taken into custody after nearly a week on the run.
William Wheelock, 55, was located around 2 a.m. Wednesday by Vermont State Police, the agency’s tactical team, and the FBI, at a residence on Park Avenue in Rutland City, according to a release early Wednesday morning from state police.
Police said Wheelock was taken into custody without incident and is being held at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland.
No other information about his capture was immediately available Wednesday morning.
Wheelock was convicted in a 1987 second-degree murder case in the shooting death of James Brillon, 26, of Danby in Ludlow.
Wheelock is serving a sentence of 21 to 99 years in prison. He had been released on probation and furlough over the years since, but each time was taken into custody for violations, according to the state Department of Corrections officials.
Most recently, he was released on furlough Jan. 28 in Bellows Falls, with a condition that he wear an electronic monitoring device.
Police said last week Wheelock cut off and discarded that device, alerting corrections officials to notify law enforcement and leading to the search to find him that ended early Wednesday morning.
