UPDATE: Photos Released Of Fugitive In Barnegat Manhunt

With additional reporting by DANIEL HUBBARD and ANTHONY BELLANO, Patch Staff Writers

BARNEGAT, NJ -- (UPDATED, 8 p.m.) Law enforcement personnel continued to search for an escaped prisoner Wednesday evening as tips poured in from residents keeping an eye out for the man.

Barnegat Township police issued an update about 7:45 p.m. saying efforts to locate Arthur William Buckel, who escaped from Bayside State Prison on Tuesday morning, are continuing.

Police continue to urge Barnegat residents to stay in their homes and keep their doors locked. The Nixle alert said a helicopter was assisting in the search. Scanner reports said it was a Coast Guard helicopter.

Barnegat police also released photos of Buckel from security cameras at CVS Wednesday morning; they also released a photo of what Buckel would look like if he shaved his face.

Buckel, 38, who had been at Bayside State Prison after sentencing on a burglary conviction, is the same man convicted of slapping a 10-month-old Barnegat girl to death on Labor Day weekend in 1995, Hudson County court officials and the state Department of Corrections confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

The 3 p.m. Nixle alert warned residents of the Timbers section of the township, between the Garden State Parkway and Barnegat Drive North to lock their vehicles and doors and to report any suspicious activity to 9-1-1.

A white 2015 Chevy Silverado from Hammonton that was reported stolen was found at the CVS Drugstore on West Bay Avenue in Barnegat about 10:15 a.m., police said in a post on the department's Facebook page about 1:30 p.m.

The suspect driving the vehicle is believed to be Buckel, who was discovered to be missing from the minimum-security prison in Hammonton at 6 a.m. Tuesday, authorities said.

As a precautionary measure all Barnegat schools were put on lockdown shortly thereafter, Barnegat police said. The Long Beach Island Consolidated School District and Waretown schools also instituted shelter-in-place lockdowns, according to alerts from the Surf City and Ocean Township (Waretown) police departments.

Southern Regional High School and Middle School did not institute a shelter-in-place, according to parents posting on the Barnegat-Manahawkin Patch Facebook page. Students at those two schools were dismissed at their usual time. Students also tweeted that the two schools were not locked down.

Barnegat Township students had been released from their schools by 4 p.m., according to scanner reports. Parents said bused students were taken home by bus; students who walk to school were released to parents or guardians only with identification. Latch-key students were encouraged to go to after-care, parents said.

The Barnegat recreation department canceled all of its afternoon programs while the search continues, the township said via Nixle alert at 2:10 p.m.

Barnegat and Waretown residents also have been warned to lock their doors and keep them locked until further notice.

Barnegat police said agencies from the Ocean County Sheriff's Department, New Jersey Department of Corrections Fugitive Task Force, Ocean County Special Operations Group, Ocean County SWAT Team, New Jersey State Police, Ocean Township Police Department, and Stafford Township Police Department are assisting with are assisting with area searches, patrols, and K-9 Tracks along the Garden State Parkway and other areas of town.

Buckel is 38 years old and is a white male, about 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds with a small tattoo under his left eye. He had a mustache and a beard, police from Winslow Township, near Hammonton, said.

Buckel, of Clifton, was serving a three-year sentence for a burglary conviction from Union County, state Department of Corrections spokesman Matt Schuman said. While in prison he was additionally convicted on burglary, aggravated assault, drug possession, and receiving stolen property charges out of Passaic County, Schuman said.

Buckel had previously been sentenced to 25 years in prison for slapping his girlfriend's baby, 10-month-old Caitlin Colon, to death in 1995, court records show.

Buckel was 18 and living in Jersey City at the time he was sentenced to 25 years on a first-degree aggravated manslaughter charge, court officials and the state Department of Corrections confirmed. Buckel, who was eligible for parole after 12.5 years in that case, was released on parole on June 12, 2010, said Syed Hassan, a Department of Corrections spokesman.

The Asbury Park Press reported Buckel's girlfriend was from Barnegat and, quoting the Jersey Journal, said the baby was killed during Labor Day weekend during a visit to Buckel in Hudson County.

Buckel was due to become eligible for parole on the more recent charges on May 21, according to the state Department of Corrections website, and could face an additional three to five years in prison for the escape, Schuman said.

If you see someone fitting this description, police urge you to call 9-1-1.

(Arthur Buckel photo via N.J. Department of Corrections)