Cold case murder suspect captured after fleeing during transport

Posted at 4:24 PM, July 11, 2023 and last updated 4:26 PM, July 11, 2023

PLAINS, MT (Court TV/Scripps News Great Falls) — A murder suspect who escaped during transport in Montana is now back in police custody, according to the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office.

Chadwick Shane Mobley

Chadwick Shane Mobley (Sanders County Sheriff’s Office)

Chadwick Shane Mobley, 42, had initially been arrested in Lincoln County on June 28, 2023, on charges related to the 2011 murder of Andrea Eilber, who was shot in the head in Michigan. Renewed DNA testing led authorities to Mobley more than a decade after her murder. While being transferred from the Lincoln County jail by a contracted security firm on Sunday, Mobley escaped at a gas station in the town of Plains, Montana.

The Sheriff’s Office said, “Mobley was able to remove his handcuffs as well as ankle shackles and run.”

The Sanders County Sheriff’s Office warned local residents in a Facebook post Monday evening to lock up their homes, guns and vehicles during the manhunt.

The Attorney General of Michigan said in a news release that Mobley was arrested on charges related to the Lapeer County homicide of Andrea Eilber in 2011.

In 2011, Eilber was shot in the head at the home of a relative in Lapeer. Evidence found at the scene was tested for DNA during the immediate investigation, and again in 2022, in a renewed effort that positively identified Mobley, who by then resided in Utah.

Mobley fled his home shortly after questioning by MSP and was apprehended Wednesday, June 28, 2023, by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department in Libby, Montana.

Mobley has been charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of felony murder, both of which carry a life sentence without the possibility of parole. 

A date for Mobley’s appearance before a Michigan judge has not yet been determined.

 

This story was originally published on July 11, 2023, by KRTV in Great Falls, MT, an E.W. Scripps Company.