BY DAN HILDEBRAN
The Union County Sheriff’s Office said its deputies, along with personnel from other agencies, apprehended a 23-year-old Columbia County man after a nine-hour manhunt.
Brandon Matthew Miller was arrested on seven felony warrants, including domestic battery, kidnapping, criminal mischief, and multiple sex offender registration violations.
According to the office, it received information from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office around noon that the defendant could be traveling through Union County and possibly had friends in the area.
“Our deputies and investigators immediately started searching for his vehicle and known associates and were able to track the suspect to a location off County Road 239 just north of County Road 238,” the office said. “As soon as our units arrived on scene, the suspect took off on foot in a heavily wooded area. The suspect was recently released from the Department of Corrections this year.”
Sheriff Brad Whitehead’s office said three K-9 Teams from the Department of Corrections’ Reception and Medical Center, Union Correctional Institution, and Baker Correctional Institution joined the manhunt, as well as officers from the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, and Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
The Lake Butler-based agency said the manhunt continued for nine hours in the woods between C.R.238, C.R.239, and S.R. 100 and ended with the defendant’s arrest at 9:30 p.m.
Union County Sheriff Brad Whitehead thanked the other agencies participating in the search for Miller.
“At no time today were citizens in any danger as our team relentlessly pursued him,” the sheriff added.
