Girlfriend who “turned in” escaped inmate for $20K reward was already locked up — The real story behind the Derrick Groves case
How a Louisiana jailbreak, a fired deputy, and a love-and-betrayal rumor turned into one of the year’s wildest misinformation stories.
If you’ve been anywhere near X, TikTok, or Facebook this week, you’ve seen the Derrick Groves post:
“Louisiana inmate on the run for 145 days finally caught after his girlfriend — a sheriff — turned him in for $20K reward money after they argued about being broke.”
It came with mugshots, a quick breakup twist, and a moral straight out of a Tyler Perry script: don’t mix love and crime.
Problem is — that story never happened.
The woman named in all those posts, Darriana Burton, does exist. She was a sheriff’s recruit. She did help her boyfriend escape. But by the time the betrayal story started making rounds, she’d already been locked up for four months.
This is the internet age: if a story sounds too wild to be true, it’s probably on its third remix before breakfast.
The Real Escape: Love, Loyalty, and a Jail iPad
Let’s rewind to May of this year, when 35-year-old Derrick Groves and nine other inmates broke out of a New Orleans-area correctional facility in a move straight out of a Netflix crime doc.
Groves wasn’t just another escapee. He had an inside connection — his girlfriend, Darriana Burton, a 28-year-old former Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office recruit.
According to court affidavits reviewed by the Orleans Parish District Attorney, Burton helped plan the jailbreak using the jail’s monitored Smartcom iPad system. On a call two days before the escape, she held up another phone to include a mystery man giving “outside advice” — a move that let them talk off the record.
Investigators later uncovered FaceTime evidence showing Burton picking up another escapee, Lenton Vanburen Jr., and dropping him at a safe house.
The state called it an “intentional and active involvement in the planning phase.”
Her family called it “love gone wrong.”
Either way, the next month she was caught — not for ratting anyone out, but for helping the man she loved disappear.
The Arrest: When Loyalty Becomes Liability
On June 9, U.S. Marshals showed up in New Orleans and arrested Burton.
Her charge: felony conspiracy to commit simple escape.
Her bond: $2.5 million.
The same court that once trained her to uphold the law now labeled her a threat to it. Judge Kimya Holmes called her actions “deliberate, dangerous, and emotionally driven.”
She’s been behind bars ever since. No plea deal. No reduced bond. And definitely no $20,000 reward check waiting at the front desk.
The Capture: Atlanta, Anonymous Tips, and a Crawl Space
Fast-forward to October 8.
Groves is still missing. His face is plastered across wanted posters, and Crimestoppers is offering a $50,000 reward.
That’s when an anonymous tip sends agents to a house on Honeysuckle Lane in southwest Atlanta.
Federal officers arrive, gas the building, and find Groves hiding in a makeshift crawl space under the floorboards — described by Louisiana’s Attorney General Liz Murrill as “an improvised hideout built to conceal him.”
It was a quiet end to a 145-day manhunt. No shootouts, no standoffs, just one man found hiding in the dark.
But when the story broke online hours later, it came with a dramatic twist no one saw coming.
The Rumor That Took Over the Internet
Within 12 hours of Groves’ capture, dozens of accounts posted the same narrative:
“Escaped inmate caught after his girlfriend — a former sheriff — turned him in for $20,000 reward money after they fought about being broke.”
The “proof” came in the form of side-by-side mugshots of Groves and Burton, paired with captions like “loyalty is expensive” and “this why you can’t mix love and crime.”
It spread like wildfire. By the next morning, the post had been reshared over 20,000 times across X and Facebook.
There was only one problem: none of it was true.
The Receipts: Burton’s Been Locked Up Since June
Fact-checkers at NOLA.com, WDSU, and FOX 8 New Orleans confirmed it first — and official jail records backed it up.
Burton was booked on June 9, four months before Groves’ capture.
She couldn’t have hidden him, argued with him, or called in a tip — because she’s been in a jail cell ever since.
Even the supposed $20K reward number was off. The real bounty was $50K, and Crimestoppers’ official statement confirmed the tip came from an anonymous source.
U.S. Marshals’ spokesperson Brian Fair called the online rumor “completely unverified,” adding, “We don’t know who submitted the tip, but it wasn’t anyone in custody.”
How the Internet Got It So Wrong
Like most fiction, this one started with a grain of truth and got remixed for clout.
Early posts used real photos from Burton’s June arrest, blended with captions that flipped the timeline to make it sound current. Then gossip accounts re-uploaded it in October with spicy add-ons — a breakup, a cash reward, and a “karma” ending.
Once this narrative hit Facebook, it immediately went global. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people were running with this narrative.
The Bigger Picture: Love, Loyalty, and the System
Beyond the memes and misinformation, there’s a darker layer to this story — how easily people believe a Black woman’s downfall over verified evidence.
Burton’s case is tragic enough: a young deputy-in-training throwing away her future over an inmate romance. But the internet turned her into a punchline, calling her a “broke snitch” while ignoring the truth — she was already paying for her role long before Groves got caught.
Meanwhile, the real accomplices in Atlanta — the people who built the crawl space and housed Groves — still haven’t been identified.
In that sense, the spin distracts from actual accountability.
This isn’t just gossip; it’s how misinformation spreads faster than justice.
Conclusion: The Truth Always Outruns the Lie
What started as a tale of betrayal turned into a case study in how fast the truth gets buried online.
Yes, Darriana Burton helped her boyfriend escape.
No, she didn’t sell him out for $20K.
And yes, she’s still behind bars, facing a felony that could keep her there for years.
In the end, the real story isn’t about a snitch — it’s about a system, a scandal, and a reminder that viral isn’t always vital.
For now, Derrick Groves awaits extradition back to Louisiana.
Darriana Burton sits in an Orleans Parish cell.
And the internet? Still spinning fiction faster than the courts can type the truth.