Sheriff, marshals seeking county jail escapee

LACONIA — A local man with a record of domestic violence and weapons charges was being sought by state, local, and federal law enforcement Tuesday after escaping from the Belknap County Jail Monday evening.

Authorities are looking for Peter DiBiaso, 57, who had been a pretrial inmate at the facility since May.

Belknap County Sheriff Bill Wright said Tuesday that DiBiaso should be considered dangerous. While he said there was no evidence that DiBiaso was armed, the sheriff said that DiBiaso’s history of weapons possession warranted “a cautious approach.”

Corrections Superintendent Adam Cunningham said DiBiaso escaped from the laundry room where he had been working at 8:24 p.m., minutes after a corrections worker brought him his medication.

Once the corrections worker left the laundry room DiBiaso barricaded the interior door and then forced open an exterior door. Once outside he ran across the yard and climbed over the fence and fled the property, Cunningham said.

Duty officers first realized DiBiaso had escaped when a corrections officer went to check on him at 9:20 p.m. and discovered the door to the laundry was barricaded.

"They forced their way in and then found the exterior door was forced open," Cunningham said.

Given that DiBiaso escaped just four minutes after being checked indicates that his escape “clearly was planned,” Cunningham said.

DiBiaso changed out of his inmate garb before escaping, the superintendent said. He could be wearing either unmarked inmate clothing, or civilian clothes which the corrections department keeps on hand in the laundry to give to indigent inmates when they are released, he explained.

DiBiaso had started working in the laundry two weeks ago, Cunningham said.

The laundry is located in an older part of the facility that is no longer used to house prisoners, Cunningham said., and therefore the fence outside that section is not topped with barbed wire. He said surveillance cameras did not show DiBiaso acting suspiciously, and that the door through which he made his escape was at the far end of the camera’s range.

DiBiaso is 5 feet 8 inches tall, 180 pounds, with blue eyes, blonde hair, with several tattoos including on his right hand, left forearm, chest, back, left ankle and left shoulder.

A $2,500 reward is being offered for information leading to his apprehension.

DiBiaso had been held at the jail since May 11, when he was ordered confined after he was apprehended on a fugitive warrant.

In May 2021 Laconia police conducted a manhunt for DiBiaso after he twice threatened his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend at gunpoint. Police were unable to locate him, however. DiBiaso was apprehended in November in Florida, where it is believed he has family.

Wright said DiBiaso refused to waive extradition and was brought back to New Hampshire on a governor’s warrant in May.

Since May 11, he has been held on three charges of criminal threatening with a deadly weapon, two charges of being an armed career criminal, two charges of violation of probation, and a charge of domestic violence stalking. In addition, he is also facing felony drug possession and weapons charges in Merrimack County, according to court records.

DiBiaso was at large as of late Tuesday morning. Wright said a surveillance camera on property off Parade about 1 1/2 miles north of the jail detected activity and captured an image at 11:20 p.m. which Wright said was of DiBiaso.

It was the one lead which law enforcement had received as of midday Tuesday.

“Oftentimes in cases like this it’s a matter of timing,” Wright said of how long it might be before DiBiaso is captured.

The U.S. Marshal’s NH Joint Fugitive Task Force is willing to pay up to $2,500 for information directly leading to DiBiaso’s location and arrest, the Marshal's Office said.

Wright said anyone who sees DiBiaso should not approach him or attempt to apprehend him. Instead, they should call Belknap County Dispatch at 603-527-5454, ext. 0.