Women Escape Jail, Get Arrested at Escape Game

Two women who escaped from jail in Alberta, Canada, were apparently so confident in their abilities that they headed to an escape room less than 24 hours later. Another escape proved impossible, however, when police officers surprised them within minutes. The scene unfolded Tuesday at SideQuests Adventures in Edmonton, which challenges visitors to escape locked rooms using a series of clues. Co-owner Rebecca Liaw says two women entered the business around 8:30pm and asked some questions about the facility's rooms, and Liaw then took them to see one. "While I was holding that conversation with them, we kind of turned only to find the hallway full of five police officers," she tells CBC News. "Then they were arrested immediately, and that was the end of that conversation."

While his wife was showing the women the room, Jonathan Liaw says a police officer arrived acting on a tip from a member of the public, who'd recognized the women as those who'd escaped the Edmonton Institution for Women by jumping a fence a day earlier. Upon realizing the women were still inside the building, the officer "called for backup right away," Liaw tells Global News. "It's funny and ironic that escaped convicts run into an escape room and get caught," he adds, per the Edmonton Journal. Kelsie Mast, 23, and Samantha Toope, 20—whom police described as violent offenders serving time for crimes that include drug trafficking, theft, and robbery—were back in the custody of Correctional Service Canada by Wednesday. An investigation into their escape is ongoing. (More escaped criminal stories.)