Multiple versions of a killers jail break

A prostitute who was serving the longest prison sentence Panama’s penal system, for her part in the murder of a high profile lawyer, is still on the run after her escape in September.

Blanco Donado, 25,  was handed a 30 year jail sentence for her part in the 2007 murder of Juan Carlos Dudley vice-president  of the College of Lawyers. Melaney Navaez,  also found guilty, was sentenced to a 28 year term.

While in the women's prison  Donado gave birth, in 2009, to a girl, and for  three days  was in the maternity ward of St. Thomas Hospital.  She then  returned to jail, says La Prensa. According to the authorities it was a factor  in  prompting her escape on September 28.

Since then multiple contradictory  stories have been circulating  about how she managed  her exit.

One says she left the prison through the front door, well dressed and made-up and  fled to her native  Colombia before the police could trace her.

“Her feminine charms, experience in brothels and a large sum of money,  helped her” said an inmate who requested anonymity.

Another version says that  she escaped  by mingling with visitors and family members of inmates who on September 28, attended a cultural and recreational event  in honor of Our Lady of Mercy, patron saint of inmates.

A third hypothesis states that she and another inmate scaled a wall and jumped onto the roof of a waiting car.

According a fourth version, the two women escaped the night before the activity dedicated to the Virgin and the next day, when inmates were counted, their  absence was not reported because, allegedly, custodians were bribed.. According to the La Prensa report, the escape was  "carefully planned" and the complicity of prison guards or police on duty has not been ruled out, but so far, no official  has been dismissed or investigated.

Mirian Martinez, who has worked for 20 years as a custodian and is the director of the Women's Rehabilitation Center, denied that the women escaped  posing as visitors.

"We have seen the videos of the surveillance cameras at  the exit door and they are not shown there," she said.

According to her, the other versions are closer to reality. "It is rumored that the escape came  the night before the activity and that both may have jumped the back wall with complicity," she said.

The center houses  799 inmates, of which 555 are waiting processes, 241 are convicted and another 3 are Corregiduría (local magistrate)cases.

The prison has a capacity of 350 inmates with 65  civilian guards working there, three of them men, who perform their duties in three shifts, with  the support of 15 National Police officers in charge of the outer perimeter.

The prisoners live in overcrowded homes or galleys, as  the inmates call them.

Three of the inmates of the center are currently pregnant and five prisoners are over 60 years old. The oldest is 65.

According to the director of the prison system, Angel Calderon, the escapees took advantage of the  activity of the Virgin of Mercy to escape with the complicity of guards.

Calderon based his hypothesis on the fact that there was no violence and, therefore, "someone had to have  helped or looked the other way when they left prison."

He also said that it is said that there arerumors of internal corruption. "There is talk of a payment of $20,000," he said.

Authorities believe, a test  flight could have been done four months earlier, on May 28, when a group of inmates rioted to demand better food and medical care.

The Assistant Prosecutor Dimas Guevara, who investigated the case, reported that all prisoners present in the activity were questioned, but "nobody knows anything or saw anything."

Blanco,  25, had worked with her friend Melanie Narvaez.

At first, both worked in Colon,  but later moved to the capital and rented an apartment in Coral Hill, Linda Vista.

After the murder of Dudley, on December 13, 2007, both hid in a friend's apartment in Rio Abajo. They were cptured .

Donated was sent to the women's prison in San Miguelito and Narvaez, New Hope, Columbus.

A year after her arrest, Donado gave birth to a girl at Santo Tomas  Hospital and 72 hours later returned to prison and did not see his daughter until she was eight months old.  Two years ago, the child was taken to Colombia by one of her aunts.

While in jail, she had to be for psychiatric  disorders and  was considered impulsive and aggressive.

Narvaez, meanwhile, is seen as a quiet woman. 

At the 2010 trial of the two prostitutes it was revealed that  Dudley died after 150 stab wounds in different parts of the body. Both accused each other of murder.

The murder weapon, a small knife  or nail clippers, and  credit cards and a valuable watch belonging to the  victim were never found.