Naked Michigan fugitive, possible female accomplice facing multiple charges after April 22 manhunt

Two Michigan residents arrested after an incident at University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center on Wednesday that led to a brief manhunt were being held Thursday in the Lorain County Jail on various criminal charges. Demarkis Taylor, 28 — who fled, naked, from Lorain County Sheriff's deputies who were trying to take him into custody on a warrant — and Asia Hunt, 20, were arraigned Thursday morning in Elyria Municipal Court. Both are from Detroit and authorities said Wednesday they lived at the same address. Taylor is charged with one count each of burglary, possession of criminal tools and counterfeiting, all felonies, and one count each of violating a protection order, resisting arrest, obstructing official business and public indecency, all misdemeanors. He was being held in the Lorain County Jail on $227,500 bond. Hunt is charged with assault on a law enforcement officer or first responder, a felony, as well as one count each of resisting arrest and obstructing official business, both misdemeanors. She was being held in the Lorain County Jail on $8,500 bond. Municipal Court records did not say if Taylor and Hunt had attorneys. Their next court hearings are scheduled April 30. The Sheriff's Office said deputies went to UH Elyria, where Taylor was being treated for an unknown condition, to arrest him on a warrant for failure to appear in court. The hospital contacted the Sheriff's Office when Taylor was about to be released, a sheriff's spokesman said Wednesday. As deputies tried to take Taylor into custody, Hunt allegedly assaulted them and distracted them. Taylor, who was naked, ran out of the hospital and eluded capture. It later turned out Taylor made it only as far as next door, the former McKinley Elementary School. He apparently broke into the school, which is owned by University Hospitals, and Elyria police and sheriff's deputies later found him hiding in the ductwork. Taylor was still naked when authorities took him out of the former school building and placed him in the back of a police cruiser. He appeared to be bleeding from a wound on his arm. The search for Taylor lasted more than an hour and involved K-9 units, drones and multiple uniformed and plainclothes police officers. Elyria police and sheriff's cruisers prowled the Eastern Heights neighborhood looking for Taylor. Elyria Schools delayed releasing elementary school students from its Eastern Heights campus near UH Elyria while police searched for Taylor. Authorities sounded the "all-clear" just before 5 p.m., schools spokeswoman Amy Higgins said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.