They scaled the tall barbed wire fence and escaped without trace into the industrial park surrounding the prison in Edmonton, Canada. But within 24 hours, the two fugitives – perhaps keen to again try their luck – were found by police in a nearby “escape room” interactive game.

The two women, Kelsie Laine Marie Mast, 23, and Samantha Faye Toope, 20, were discovered missing from the women’s correctional facility on Monday night during an inmate count. Police soon issued a public warning, describing them as violent offenders with a history of weapons offences.



The following day, as police across the city searched for the women, the pair wandered into the escape room, where customers are locked in a room and must solve a variety of puzzles and challenges to get out.

“They said they were from out of town, and weren’t familiar with escape rooms and asked if they could see one,” said Rebecca Liaw of SideQuests Adventures. She and her husband Jonathan, who co-own the business, were working that night along with another staff member who was in a back room.

“They weren’t doing anything stereotypically suspicious – they weren’t looking over their shoulder or being nervous or antsy. Nothing at all to let us know that something was not normal,” she said.

Liaw took the two women down a hallway to show them one of the rooms. As the women were plying Liaw with questions, police were quietly making their way to the facility, tipped off by a citizen who had recognised the two women.

“It was a really normal conversation until I look up over their shoulder and find the hallway full of five police officers,” said Liaw. “It was shocking. I’m sure I was midsentence when the police announced that they were arresting them.”

The pair were swiftly handcuffed and escorted out of the building, said Liaw. Police said the two women were later returned to the custody of Canada’s correctional services.

“It’s all kinds of ironic,” said Liaw. “How, after escaping from a prison, did they end up here at our escape room? And, wow, they’re definitely not escaping from here.”