Police searching for inmate who walked away from work release crew in Goshen

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind.—Police are searching for an inmate who they say walked away from his work release crew in Goshen on Thursday morning.

According to officials, Ryan Fisher was last seen near the Conoco Gas Station in Goshen around 7:45 a.m. wearing his green and white striped prison jumpsuit and has not been seen since.

Fisher is described as a white male who is six feet tall, weighs 180 lbs. and has brown hair and hazel eyes.

The work crew was set to work on roads near the area of the incident.

Today, ABC57 reached out to officials in town and in the county for updates. However the search is still on and there are mixed emotions across the born.

Conoco clerk, Shannon McCreary, says that there was a group of work release men who came in early that morning for snacks and coffee before leaving in a truck. McCreary also says that this was quite a typical morning and that those working have wonderful manors and never cause any issues.

However, some local residents like Crystal Cassel were quite worried when she heard the news. The fact that he had not been found in what was at the time 6 hours, made her worried for her children's safety.

While emotions were running high for many, there were still residents like Lillie Condict, who can see the Elkhart County Community Corrections Center from her front porch and is used to the workers coming and going. After seeing inmates come and go from the facililty for the past 39 years, Condict said that there has not been any issues before and that the inmates she would be worried about are in jail and unable and not trusted to go out to work.

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Contributions to this story also made by: Shannon Nolan