The trail of an escaped prison inmate went cold about 35 miles east of the city. That's where police found the convicted murderer hiding in a refrigerator.

Daniel Mitchem's 6-foot, 155-pound frame - clad only in gym shorts - was curled inside the icebox at his ex-girlfriend's apartment Thursday.He might have eluded capture, but his 2-year-old daughter pointed at the refrigerator and said: "Daddy's in there," according to Mitchem's ex-girlfriend, Ernestina Rodriguez.

Mitchem, 21, was sentenced earlier this month to 361/2 years in prison in the 1993 shotgun slaying of a 44-year-old man. He was awaiting transfer to the state penitentiary when he and another man escaped from a county jail this week, sliding 65 feet down braided bedsheets and cutting their way out with wire cutters, a hacksaw and a propane torch.

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The other fugitive, a gang member awaiting trial in the slaying of a college student, is still at large.

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