Rapist caught after escape from Louisiana prison

LAFAYETTE, La. – A convicted rapist and suspect in a homicide who had escaped from the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center Friday night was apprehended early Saturday morning.

Anthony Machiavelli, 40, pried open a section of fence in the jail’s recreation yard before climbing a second razored fence around 9:30 p.m. Friday, police said.

Machiavelli, of Portland, Maine, was riding a stolen bicycle when police captured him around 1:45 a.m. Saturday, said Lt. Craig Stansbury, a spokesman for the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Department.

Machiavelli is awaiting trial for the 1999 murder of Carencro resident Charlie Marisco. Police said while he was in Maine serving a 24-year sentence for rape, he confessed to Marisco’s murder.

Marisco, 62, was found fatally stabbed in his apartment by an exterminator. Machiavelli later led investigators to Marisco’s car in Pensacola, Fla., after he allegedly confessed to the killing.

Machiavelli will now also face escape charges and could have additional charges added for theft and any other crimes he may have committed during the escape, Stansbury said.

The sheriff’s office will conduct an investigation into the escape, Stansbury said.

“What happened will be reviewed and if there’s any policy changes that need to be made, we’ll make them,” Stansbury said.