Escaped home invasion suspect captured in Leesburg

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Home invasion suspect Michael Floyd escaped from a deputy's patrol car on Thursday, along State Road 50 in Lake County.

Friday, Eyewitness News reported that Floyd was recaptured, sometime around noon, at an apartment in Leesburg.

Eyewitness News reporter Berndt Petersen was waiting at the jail when Floyd arrived in custody.

"How did you get out of the car, Floyd?" Peterson asked.

However, Floyd would not reveal the method he used to escape from a Lake County deputy's patrol car.

The home invasion suspect was on the loose for 28 hours when detectives found him. He was hiding out at a friend's house in Leesburg, according to Lt. John Herrell with the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Detectives said on Moss Street, nobody would come outside or admit they even knew Floyd.

It all started Thursday morning when investigators said an armed Floyd and two partners broke into a house near Groveland, terrorizing the occupants and demanding money.

Detectives believe the home invasion was drug-related. All three suspects were quickly rounded up, but a handcuffed Floyd somehow managed to slip out of the back seat of a locked squad car.

It's a mystery because, detectives said the door can't be opened because the handles don't work from the inside, and the power window buttons are inoperative. 

"Are you sure the deputy didn't leave the window down?" Petersen asked Herrell.

"That's what we're looking into right now. We're looking into this administratively to find out exactly how this happened," said Herrell. "But at this point in time, that's all the details I have."

Floyd and the other two suspects are charged with armed home invasion, kidnapping and grand theft. He also faces an escape charge.

WFTV