Theres nothing more fascinating than a true crime story filled with drama, romance, a high-speed car chase, and murder. When John realized that prison officers rarely inspected the dog crates, used to transfer dogs for rehab purposes or Toby's van that she used to carry the crates, he began planning. Toby Dorr was running a prison dog-training program when she met convicted murderer John Manard. I never anticipated thats what he was talking about at the time. She said Manard planned the escape through a dog crate he lost weight to fit in. The one variable that brought about such a profoundly different outcome for me was an imperceptibly simple decision to live. My eyes settled for a prolonged moment on Manard until he glanced up at me. He was an inmate at the Lansing Correctional Facility in Leavenworth Kansas, where Dorr administered a volunteer rehabilitative dog program for. I'm not the same person. Manard wrote, I loved Toby and was 100 percent committed to her Why did I stay with her once I was out if I was just manipulating? He continued: Ive always been given the role of the master manipulating, scumbag criminal with no morals and Toby the, poor manipulated, naive, gullible, depressed, desperate, good girl, that I took advantage of. At the age of 48, she could have never imagined that love would change her world, but it did. Toby Dorr claimed that he was a good listener and always lent his ear when she spoke about personal matters. "He was just someone I could really talk to. She told Insider that Manard asked her about her life as she seemed upset. Their karma haunted Maynard grew anxious and had to see the world he . In addition, she serves as a public motivational speaker and author, with her memoir Unleashed to be released very soon. Dorr is also starting to speak publicly about her experience. "I was very unhappy, and I was so depressed.". Little did I know how intoxicating purpose could be. I wouldn't do it today obviously. In October 2005, though, after a prisoner threatened Toby, her contact in the wardens officer reportedly assigned John Manard, one of the dog trainers in her program, to be her escort for a while. After spending time together for months, Manard admitted his love for Dorr and his desire to flee with her. Shes not happy about going to prison, but shes going to make the best of the situation. Recently, I learned about Vicky White, an Alabama corrections officer who helped an inmate escape and became a fugitive, and was struck by the parallels between our stories. The moment they were handcuffed was the very last time the pair were together as a couple. Toby Dorr, who was Toby Young at the time, was married for 28 years and a mother-of-two when she fell in love with John Manard in prison. In his mind, I think he had the idea he could get out. I NEVER manipulated her in the least! She was Toby Young then, 48 years old, and in February 2006 she did the unthinkable. I loved Toby with all that I was. Eventually, the couple lost control and crashed into a tree. Facebook/Kansas Department of Corrections Maybe John was wearing his inmate hat and he was perceptive enough to notice a need in me and capitalized on it. She helped pair rescued canines with inmates and took a liking to Maynard. In 2006, Toby Dorr, formerly Toby Young, made headlines after she helped convicted murderer John Manard escape from Kansas' Lansing Correctional Facility in a dog crate. She was a 48-year-old married mother-of-two who worked as a dog trainer and volunteered at the correctional center Manard was assigned to. And its not just a wild story its a wild true story. I dont recommend my path, but I firmly believe that we command our own destinies. Maynard had 10 years added to his life sentence. Toby Dorr had been working inside a Kansas prison for just over a year when a slender inmate with close-cropped red hair started paying special attention to her. Why did I stay with her once I was out if I was just manipulating? I couldnt find the courage to look again, but I sensed his glance stretching into a steely stare as he said, Ill take this one.. She even shared her ill-fated love story and prison narrative on multiple occasions with the world. She had supportive parents, married her high school sweetheart, was dedicated to her work at Sprint a telecom firm and raised two children while earning a degree. Although news outlets reported that he was a master manipulator, Manard denied this in a letter to the Kansas City Star. The incident naturally led to a wild, reportedly one of the greatest in the state, chase and their ultimate capture within 12 days. Fugitives from the law, we ran for 12 wonder-filled days before U.S. Had I the courage and awareness to confront my weaknesses decades before, I never would have fallen for John Manard. Up until that moment, Dorr and Manard were only emotionally involved, not s*xually. A dog licked his face. While in prison, a romance blossomed between Manard and Toby Dorr, who at that time was the head of the prisons dog training program. On Saturday, NBC Dateline will chronicle the events that led to the prison break and the high-profile chase afterwards. Condemned men without worldly value brought dogs back from the brink of kill shelter inevitabilities. Toby Dorr and John Manard were caught in Tennessee following a chance encounter with deputies that lead to a high-speed chase and their vehicle crashing into a tree. My story challenges you to confront your fears, boldly evaluate where you are, and courageously change. They chose an isolated cabin in rural Tennessee as their hideout for 12 days before being apprehended., after which, they were both sent to prison. He was smart," Young told the outlet. Dorr and John Michael Manard, who was at Lansing Correctional Facility serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, went on the run on February 12, 2006, living out of a cabin in rural. I did 27 months for my role in helping John Manard escape. Be the first one to comment on this story. I never smoked or drank alcohol, chewed gum in class . The chance encounter lead to a 60-mile chase down a nearby interstate. Manard is still behind bars, reportedly in a New Hampshire facility, and likely will be for life. Dorr was charged with aiding and abetting an aggravated escape, taking contraband into the prison, and providing firearms to a felon, the Atlantic wrote. He was an inmate at the Lansing Correctional Facility in Leavenworth Kansas, where Dorr administered a volunteer rehabilitative dog program for the Safe Harbor Prison Dog Program. Sometimes Id say to somebody, What does red taste like? Dorr said. Toby Dorr. He methodically evaluated each ones reactions, as if searching for hidden clues to health and demeanor. All Rights Reserved. Toby Dorr, formerly Young, seemed to have a picture-perfect life. We all must choose. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. published on Friday by the Kansas City Star. Dorr is working on a memoir about her experience. After landing on the still breathing side of cancer, I yearned for more. Dorr and Montgomery. Would love your thoughts, please comment. To him that meant, yes, lets escape, and to me it just meant yes, I might be with you if you were out of prison, Dorr explained. Maynard's serving a life sentence. Toby told TODAY that although inmates never directly approached her while she was volunteering, John Manard did. My obsession with duty prevented me from considering more legally acceptable options. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! The article discusses further on her experiences, actions, and the consequences that came afterwards before NBC's Dateline episode. And John Manards prison escape checked all the boxes. Toby Dorr (who was Toby Young when she met John Manard) was the reason that John Manard was able to escape. The two drove to a storage facility where they swapped out the van for a pre-placed pick-up truck, which the two used to drive to Tennessee. . Speeds exceeded 100 . It was while John was serving his penalty at the Lansing Correctional Facility in October 2005 that he met Toby Dorr (then Toby Young), who'd recently begun a rehabilitative program that paired rescued dogs with prisoners for further adoption. What do you want to do? 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Inside a box in one of the. The couple subsequently led investigators down a quest that lasted nearly two weeks and raised many questions about each of their involvement in the matter. I do think that John Manard loved me to the best of his ability to love anybody at that time. He offered his hand and with a deep drawl he announced, Im John Manard. On their way back to their cabin, the couple was arrested on Interstate 75, around 60 miles from where theyd been staying in rural Tennessee, NBC News wrote. Toby Dorr was a 48-year-old, volunteering at a Kansas prison when she met and got romantically involved with an inmate named John Manard and helped him escape. 'Dateline' Gets to the Bottom of Annie Kasprzak's Confusing Murder, It's Been One Year Since Vanessa Guillen's Body Was Found Her Fianc Is Still Mourning Her Loss, Was Tom Kolman Fatally Poisoned By His Friend? Maybe John was wearing his inmate hat and he was perceptive enough to notice a need in me and capitalized on it. ' She said she replied, Well, gosh, if they put on their lights and tell us to pull over, then we have to pull over.'. Droll noted that after offering her his hand, the inmate told her that he'd like to be her next handler. Toby Dorr, formerly Toby Young, then 48, pleaded guilty in 2006 to helping John Maynard, 28, escape from the Lansing Correctional Facility in Leavenworth Kansas, as well as to knowingly providing a firearm to a felon, according to a new account of the prison break published on Friday by the Kansas City Star. You are not alone. This case got a lot of media attention nationwide, with some claiming that John, then 27, was a cunning man who simply took advantage of his lover. Please logout and login again. Young, 48, was charged Monday in Leavenworth County District Court with aiding and abetting aggravated escape and aiding a felon. In a 2018 interview with The Kansas City Star, Toby stated, At the time, I was so overwhelmed, so full of pressure that [the escape] sounded like a great idea, which was indicative of how broken I really was at that moment. Then, talking about John, she added, I was just desperate to be loved, to feel like somebody loved me. But what happened to Manard since his notorious 2006 prison escape? Although they escaped, when police saw the truck they were in, they were involved in a brief, but high-speed chase between Chattanooga and Knoxville on Interstate 75. He was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder for his role in a fatal 1996 carjacking that occurred when he was 17, according to the Kansas City Star. He checked mouths and eyes and slowly ran his fingers through their fur. Manard told the Star that he was in love with Dorr and he hadnt manipulated her: I loved Toby and was 100 percent committed to her, he wrote in a letter to the outlet. Tall, confident, and cool, John Manard, a convicted murderer, noticed me. Her contact in the wardens office assigned Maynard to be her escort, she told the Star, accompanying her around the facility as her personal, 6-foot, 2-inch-tall red-haired bodyguard. A bit embarrassed, I blinked a couple of times, forcing my eyes back to my clipboard. And was John Manard ever caught? My 28-year marriage yawned; I felt like my husband hardly knew I existed. Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Toby Young was married and managed a volunteer rehabilitative dog program at a Kansas prision when shebroke John Manard out after falling for him. Manard was caught. There, they hid out in a remote cabin for 12 days, where police would later find novels, sex toys, two handguns, $25,000 cash, a blue parakeet, a guitar, materials to forge identification papers and sheet music to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the Coen Brothers jail-break film. John Michael Manard was serving a life sentence at Lansing Correctional Facility in Kansas when he met Toby Young, now known as Toby Dorr, a married woman who was running a dog program in the prison. The moment they were handcuffed was the very last time the pair were together as a couple. He joined a group of prisoners at Kansas' Lansing Correctional Facility and even addressed her regarding personal concerns after a year on the job. In Lifetimes Jailbreak Lovers, a woman finds a sense of escape from a lonely marriage with an inmate at the correctional facility where she brings dogs to be rehabilitated. Toby Dorr, formerly Toby Young, infamously helped John Manard break out of a Kansas prison in 2006. I learned that freedom is a state of mind, not a circumstance. (NBC News) - Tonight on "Dateline," when Kansas prisoner John Manard escapes with the help of Toby Dorr, a prison volunteer and mother of two who was 20 years his senior, investigators. Toby Dorr fell in love with John Manard, an inmate at a prison in which she was volunteering with a dog program. According to the Kansas City Star, Manard was sentenced to life in prison for a fatal carjacking in 1996 that took place when he was 17 years old. The duo soon realized that they were a lot more alike than they were apart and fell in love despite Tobys marriage. In 2004, Dorr, a married mother of two and cancer survivor, started the Safe Harbor Prison Dog Program at the Lansing Correctional Facility, a program with the goal of allowing certain inmates to house dogs in their cells in preparation for the dogs adoption, the Atlantic reported. Toby Dorr, who served time for helping an inmate and ex-lover escape, discusses what Joyce Mitchell is probably going through given her similar experience. Who knew that a year later that love would take no prisoners? The two then got in the pick-up truck and drove away. Authorities, with little elaboration, said she helped John M.. In a personal essay for TODAY, she shares more about her own journey to freedom. 2 Familiar Faces Were on Turbulent Lufthansa Flight, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Gets 'Simply Appalling' Sentence, Person Used Tap Water as Sinus Rinse, Probably Fatally, House Ethics Committee Is Investigating AOC. She led a reasonably "average" life before encountering the felon during one of her prison volunteer rehabilitative dog programs at the Lansing Correctional Facility in Kansas. Our market was families across the country who clamored for Safe Harbor Prison dogs. When the time had come to choose a dog, Manard inspected each one, thoughtfully analyzing his choices. But that sense of escape soon turned into a real escape when she broke him out of prison and they went on the run together. She was released from prison in 2008, KMBC reported. Johns casual stroll grayed the lines between carefree and careless, but I had no doubt that I was his target. The couple was on the run for 12 days, living in a cabin in a small village in Tennessee, until they were tracked down and arrested. So now, if youre curious about where she is today, weve got you covered. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Manard and Dorr hopped in a car and fled the authorities in what would become one of the most notorious high-speed car chases of all time. It fills your whole head with the smell.. As far as prison escapes go, it was ingenious in its simplicity. It was while John was serving his penalty at the Lansing Correctional Facility in October 2005 that he met Toby Dorr (then Toby Young), whod recently begun a rehabilitative program that paired rescued dogs with prisoners for further adoption. Within months, he formulated a plan and they put it into action on February 12, 2006. Manard was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for unlawful possession of a firearm which was added to his state sentences for first-degree murder and jailbreak. Breakout: With Lester Holt, Andrea Canning. Toby Dorr, then Toby Young, was in her late 40s when she fell for John Manard, then 28. Toby Dorr was a 48-year-old, volunteering at a Kansas prison when she met and got romantically involved with an inmate named John Manard and helped him escape. Nearly a week later, John and his friends were apprehended, and he was charged, arrested, tried, and convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery. Manard was serving a life. I jumped at the opportunity when the local prison suggested that I lead a dog rehab program. Over the next few months, Manard and Dorr developed a relationship that ultimately resulted in Dorr helping Manard escape from prison in February 2006. Manard was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder for his role in a fatal 1996 carjacking when he was 17, according to the, In February of 2006, she smuggled Manard out of the maximum-security prison in a dog crate in the back of the dog program van, the. Powered by. Toby Dorr infamously helped John Manard break out of a Kansas prison in 2006. His story takes a deep dive into the escape, the couple's brief time on the run before capture, and how Dorra married mother of two who was a rule-abiding goody-two-shoes her entire lifeturned into a felon herself. Milquetoast American life. Dorr was married at the time andManard was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder for his role in a fatal 1996 carjacking when he was 17, according to the Kansas City Star. Toby Dorr is infamous for helping convicted murderer John Manard escape prison in 2006. Once U.S. However, they followed through on the latter after their escape. I know how difficult it is to come back from being down. Hanging back from the initial throng, the lanky redhead occupied his own space. Tune into Dateline NBC on June 11 at 10 p.m. EST on NBC to dive deeper into the infamous escape. But this resulted in them being identified and caught. Let me be crystal clear: The prison to which I refer is not the stone and steel building topped with razor wire. He had been in prison around 10 years before he met Dorr and the two began planning their escape. Welcome back for the exciting conclusion of Toby's story about helping John Maynard escape from Lansing prison! And that was the last time I saw him., Dorrs husband divorced her and she spent 27 months in prison, serving concurrent federal and state sentences. Their luck ran out when Maynard grew restless and wanted to explore the world he hadnt seen since being imprisoned at 19. I do think that John Manard loved me to the best of his ability to love anybody at that time.. Kansas Department of Corrections, , then Toby Young, was in her late 40s when she fell for John Manard, then 28. They were simply seeing a movie and shopping but had to quickly improvise to make a getaway. A police helicopter illuminated our fugitive run. It went off without a hitch, writes Michael Mooney in the Atlantic. The convicted murderer added, Why did I stay with her once I was out if I was just manipulating? The upcoming episode, titled Breakout, will revisit the prison break involving Toby Dorr aka The Dog Lady and John Manard. And I said, I think I probably would. Manard was serving a life sentence for a 1996 murder at the Lansing Correctional Facility when he met Dorr, who was leading a volunteer rehabilitative dog program. Your login session has expired. prison worker explains why she helped a killer escape. Toby added that no one had ever asked her that question, not even her husband, stating that she was "really struggling with a lot of things.". However, he clarified everything in the letter to City Star, stating, I loved Toby and was 100 percent committed to her. Investigators received a tip that Toby Dorr allegedly bought a pickup truck in Missouri under a false name. NBCs Dateline: Breakout profiles the tale of John Manard, a Kansas life-term prisoner, who managed to escape his incarceration in February 2006 with the help of his then-lover, 48-year-old Toby Dorr, a jail volunteer and married mother of two. Dorr told KMBC, [Manard] said, I think this is for us. John Manard walks a dog on the grounds of the Lansing Correctional Facility alongside Toby Dorr, then Toby Young, on Dec. 8, 2005, about two months before the escape. Dorr drove Manard off the prison property without a problem, and the couple escaped to a Tennessee cabin in the woods in which authorities later found, Books, sex toys, a blue parakeet, a guitar, and sheet music to the jailbreak film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?. I think theyre going to pull us over. Their successful offense, though, came with the death of Donald England, who was fired at once in the process. Everything about him, a testament to his character, unlike any other convicted killer Id met while volunteering at the prison. She said that she jumped at the chance when the prison suggested that she lead the dog rehab program. I chose life again. So he started thinking of things and planning in his head and then by the time he shared with me what he already had planned, I was kind of desperate to do something different myself.. Dorr was booked for 21 months in a Houston prison for her role in the escape, and when she got out, she settled back down and married in Kansas City. When she came to, an officer pulled her out of the wreckage and threw her to the ground. Ive always been given the role of the master manipulating, scumbag criminal with no morals and Toby the poor manipulated, naive, gullible, depressed, desperate, good girl that I took advantage of.. Toby Young, 48, helped John Maynard, 28, escape a maximum-security Kansas prison in a dog crate, two days before Valentine's Day 2006. Serving a life term for a deadly 1996 carjacking at Lansing Correctional Facility, Kansas, 27-year-old John Manard escaped with the help of Toby Dorr, then known as Toby Young, after a romance sparked between them. Dorr had been helping inmates train dogs to prepare them for adoption as part of a program she founded called Safe Harbor Prison Dogs. Dash-cam videos from a dozen law enforcement vehicles (representing just a handful of the vehicles in the actual pursuit) form a collage synchronized to show the car chase from multiple vantage points. In a letter written by him to The Kansas City Star years later, he called himself a 17-year-old child at that time, who made a mistake that led to his life sentence. Maybe John was wearing his inmate hat and he was perceptive enough to notice a need in me and capitalized on it. Know more in just minutes with our free newsletters. Marshals spotted Manard and Dorr while they were out in the Chattanooga area, the couple lost control of the situation.