Zachary Arabie (22), a felon serving 20 years in a Louisiana corrections institution for armed robbery escaped along with Steven Ridge (31) in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and arrived in Knoxville claiming to be Katrina victims who had been enrolled at Tulane University. The two had false IDs from Tulane. Arabie claimed to have been a Lambda Chi Alpha at Tulane and asserted that he was following the process for enrollment at UT with other victims.
For a little over a month in fall 2005, the two posed as displaced students, during which time they attended several fraternity parties and made use of UT facilities. Ridge was arrested on November 7 at a convenience store where he was attempting to pass counterfeit money. After interviews with Ridge, Knoxville police began looking for Arabie. Knoxville and UT Police issued alerts, and a tip was received that Arabie was in Hodges Library. The library was evacuated and searched, and Arabie’s handgun was found in a wastebasket. The library remained closed overnight and was searched again before being allowed to reopen in the morning. Arabie was captured at 11:50 a.m. on November 10 near the intersection of Melrose and Lake Avenues.