Still no word on fugitive’s method

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Updated: March 1, 2012 8:24AM

I can’t ask Cesar Sanchez how he got out of the transport van.

The 37-year-old man died Jan. 11, six weeks after he escaped while traveling back to prison. After several hours of searching, police found him hiding at the bottom of a portable toilet in Rockdale.

I’ve asked the Department of Corrections how Sanchez got out of their transport van, but two spokespersons have declined to comment, noting the investigation remains open.

Some details would’ve come out when he was brought into court, but Sanchez’s death made filing criminal charges for the escape a moot point.

But I had a recent conversation about what happened with outside sources who carry badges.

On Dec. 2, Sanchez was being brought back from the Bridgeview courthouse to the Stateville Correctional Center. Around 2:30 p.m. the van was at Farrell Road and 159th Street in Lockport. Sanchez was handcuffed, but his legs were unshackled.

“But how did he get out of a moving van?” I asked.

“It wasn’t moving,” I was told.

Allegedly the van was parked at Jewel-Osco. While one of the correctional officers had gone inside to buy food, another got out of the van to use his cell phone, according to a source.

Sanchez allegedly kicked out a window and climbed through before a passer-by told the guards their prisoner was getting away.

I ran the account by a state corrections official, who declined to comment because there is still a pending investigation.

“IDOC has completed an after-action review of this incident, as is standard protocol,” spokeswoman Stacy Solano wrote in an email. “Based on that review, security related policies were reinforced and staff will receive additional training related to escape incidents.”

After his escape from the guards, Sanchez climbed onto the back of a semi that had just made a delivery at Osco. As police flooded into Lockport, Sanchez was on his way to Berryman Transfer in Rockdale.

Police, sheriff’s deputies, correctional officers and marshals arrived and dogs followed the trail to a row of portable toilets in the Waste Management property next door. Sanchez was found hiding in the holding tank below the toilet floor.

“His cuffs would’ve prevented him from lifting his arms above his head. I don’t know if he could’ve gotten out of there on his own,” one officer said.

The following week Sanchez was indicted for allegedly committing armed robberies at grocery stores, cell phone stores and a flower shop before his incarceration. He was transferred to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.

An unresponsive Sanchez was later taken to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center and died. An autopsy showed his death was not the result of foul play.

“There had been medical issues since he was recaptured,” a source said. While Sanchez’s autopsy results will require further study, it is suspected spending hours enclosed in a septic environment caused or exacerbated infections that may have led to his death.