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Girlfriend Denies Helping Fugitive Elude Authorities

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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — William Barefoot escaped from the Hoke County Jail in October and led police on a statewide manhunt before being captured near Gastonia. The woman who investigators initially thought helped him during his two-week long prison escape hopes to clear her name.

Donna Barker lives near Charlotte, but she came to Fayetteville to take a lie detector test to prove she did not aid Barefoot while he was a fugitive.

"I knew that he was in my area and that he had been down my road and he was captured just miles from my house," she said. "I knew he was trying to get to me for help.

At one point, officers planned to charge her for helping Barefoot after he escaped from jail, but they changed their minds. Now, Barker hopes to put an end to their concerns.

When asked what Barker would have done if Barefoot asked her for help, she said, "he would have had just about two or three minutes to make a decision. You can call right now or you can hit the road because I can't have any part of that, naturally."

Barker said she also traveled to Raleigh to see Barefoot since his arrest. Now, she carries around pictures Barefoot drew and papers he wrote. She wants people to have a different image of him and officers to have a different image of her.

There is no word about Barker's lie detector results.

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