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John Manard, notorious Kansas prison escapee, died Sunday in Arizona prison

John Manard
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — John Manard, whose 2006 escape from a Kansas prison in a dog crate shocked the nation, died Sunday at an Arizona prison.

Manard, 45, was serving a life sentence for a 1996 murder in Johnson County when he escaped from the Lansing Correctional Facility with the help of a woman who ran a dog-training program at the prison.

Toby Young, who was married, said she and Manard fell in love while Manard worked in the dog-training program.

Young and Manard spent nearly two weeks on the run before being captured in Tennessee.

Young, now known as Toby Dorr, spent 27 months in prison for her part in the escape.

No information was available on Manard's cause of death or why he was serving his time at an Arizona prison.

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Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.