Staff photo by Don Cresswell

EOCI employee David Lilienthal, right, looks through the gear bags of America’s Most Wanted sound man Spencer Palermo while the television show’s producer, Gisele Lamarre, looks on.

Escapee among 'Most Wanted'

Television show films at Pendleton's EOCI

eastoregonian.com/front page/10-19-99

By MIKE FEDERMAN of the East Oregonian

PENDLETON - With union pickets lining the entrance to the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution during the first day of a labor strike, a camera crew from "America's Most Wanted" used the prison as a backdrop for filming two segments for the popular crime-fighting television show.

Ed Miller, chief national correspondent for the show and its Los Angeles bureau chief, did segments on recently escaped fugitive James Kinney and interviewed Pam Trimble, a former correctional officer who is now an inmate at EOCI after being convicted of helping a woman inmate - her lover - break out of prison.

"I just think the story is amazing," Miller said of the Trimble case. "The lengths they went to - and then they went on the run."

Trimble was a state correctional officer when she met inmate Tracey Poirer. The women fell in love and when Poirer was transferred to the Oregon Women's Correctional Center in Salem they devised a plan to break her out of prison.

"Their plan was incredible," Miller said, noting Poirer lost weight so she could squeeze through prison bars and Trimble lay on her back on the ground for more than two hours cutting a hole in the security fence.

Poirer escaped in August 1998 and the two women fled the state.

"America's Most Wanted" did a feature on Trimble and Poirer, advising viewers that the two women had distinctive tattoos on their forearms.

Acting on a tip from a television viewer who recognized Poirer's tattoos, authorities arrested the two women in Rhode Island just 30 days after their escape.

"They were caught because of 'America's Most Wanted,' " Miller said.

Miller has only been with the show since June, but is a veteran of investigative television reporting, having worked with Fox News in New York and most recently with Paramount Syndicated T.V.

He called the Trimble/Poirer case the most bizarre story he's ever followed.

"Trimble was a corrections officer," he said. "She was like a Luke Skywalker who goes over to the dark side."

Miller interviewed Trimble and said she told him that Poirer found her vulnerability and used it against her.

"She did it for love," he said.

Outside the security fence at EOCI, with loops of razor wire behind him, Miller did a few practice takes of a 20-second bit for the Trimble piece. When his cameraman and soundman gave him the go-ahead, he started.

"Once they fell in love, they devised a plan for Tracey to escape," Miller said. "And since Pam was a corrections officer, she knew all about prisons. For example, they communicated with each other through secret coded letters since they knew someone would be reading their mail. Specific messages of when, where and how were scrambled."

Trimble was sent to EOCI last March. Miller said her story will air on television this Saturday.

Convicted child sex offender James Kinney is another worthy candidate of America's Most Wanted's time.

Kinney, who escaped from EOCI on Oct. 2 by using a makeshift rope to swing over the prison's razor wire, has already been on America's Most Wanted following his escape.

"What a desperate man he was to try such a bold and daring escape," Miller said.

Kinney is still at large. Miller interviewed Bob Hensel, a special investigator with the state Inspector General's Office, about the case.

"We have no viable leads. No tips to follow," Hensel said as he watched Miller finish his Trimble piece.

Hensel said interviews are ongoing with EOCI inmates who could have a connection to Kinney's escape.

"We haven't found out whether he had help," Hensel said, adding that Kinney was prepared well enough that he didn't need help to escape. "He was really patient."

Hensel said there is no concrete evidence at this point to lead investigators in any particular direction.

By putting Kinney on "America's Most Wanted," the show's producers hope to heighten the public's awareness of the fugitive's presence.

"Viewers make a difference," Miller said, noting that the show has a regular feature called "Tip Tracker" that highlights viewers who have called in valuable crime-solving tips. "We want to show people who are trying to make the effort. The more people who help us, the more contagious it is."

The Kinney segment is scheduled to air Nov. 6.

Before then, however, Miller is looking forward to the Oct. 30 show that will have a segment called "Escape School," which teaches children practical techniques for staving off a kidnap attempt.

Miller said the techniques are tried and effective, collected from thousands of true-life incidents in which children have been able to out-maneuver their would-be kidnapper.

"It's a great show," Miller said of "America's Most Wanted." "We're approaching our 600th capture. We found a (7-year-old) kid who was kidnapped by his father in Seattle and taken to a little town near Tucson (Ariz.). It was my first capture. We reunited the boy with his mother. That's a wonderful feeling."