LORANGER – The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office has captured and booked an escaped St. Tammany Parish Work Release inmate after he allegedly escaped from the program and abducted a woman.

Christopher Ricker, 35 years-old, was booked in Tangipahoa Parish on one count of attempted murder of a police officer and one count of aggravated flight from a police officer.

Sheriff Daniel Edwards said deputies from the Tangipahoa Sheriff's Office, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office and the Hammond Police Department first started the man-hunt of Ricker when he escaped a work release program in St. Tammany and abducted a woman in the Covington-area.

The sheriff's office first received a call from the abducted woman in which she told police that Ricker had allegedly abducted her while she was at her workplace in the area, according to Edwards.

Ricker then headed to Tangipahoa Parish with the abducted women, before letting her go free.

Soon after, Edwards said that Ricker was located traveling to Loranger by deputies. After being chased by police, Ricker crashed his car into a Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's deputy's car, jumped into a nearby river and escaped deputies on foot into a wooded area.

Ricker was eventually found in the wooded area by a St. Tammany Parish K9 dog in which the K9 bit Ricker in the forearm.  

Edwards said at a press conference that Ricker's intentional striking of the sheriff's deputy's car is what led to his charge of attempted murder.

Also, Edwards said Tangipahoa Parish is investigating further charges against Ricker.