This week's capture of two escaped inmates from the Peoria County jail sheds light on a big problem facing residents in many older communities... unmonitored, vacant homes.
Residents say some vacant properties become a breeding ground for criminal activity.

On Wednesday afternoon, Peoria County Sheriff's investigators found escaped inmate James Fuller hiding in this vacant home on North Street in Peoria.
A Neighbor says the home Fuller was in had been empty for four years and became shelter for indigents, a growing problem in some older communities.

"It's a concern that another vacant house is being used for something that it shouldn't be used for and we have a lot of problems in our area with vacant housing. Just within my house there are seven vacant properties within eye distance, so that's a concern said Altamont Park Neighborhood Association President Paul Wilkinson.

Out of the 700 homes within his community Wilkinson says about 70 are vacant... more than he realized.
Peoria County sheriff's investigators and law enforcement spent nearly all night Tuesday scouring vacant homes throughout the city looking for Fuller, who escaped with Aaron Cook. Residents say they're relived both are back in jail.

"I was very relieved, I mean it's like it shows justice has been served and the streets are safer at this time said Altamont Park Neighborhood resident Jay Gaskins.

"There was cops in our back alley and going around door to door and seeing what was going on, said North Valley neighborhood resident Kari Johnson.

Much of the more than 24–hour manhunt took place in Johnson's North Valley neighborhood where several other vacant properties exist like this old drug house in the 1700 block of North East Madison and this one a block away. Wilkinson says with no–one monitoring these properties, they can be a haven for illegal activity. In Peoria I'm Denise Jackson reporting.