Christopher Daniel Gay, also nicknamed Little Houdini, is a 35-year-old fugitive of Coffee County, Tennessee.

Gay escaped police custody the afternoon of March 3, 2009 while being transported from Orlando, Florida

Orlando, Florida

Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

 to Coffee County, Tennessee

Coffee County, Tennessee

Coffee County is a county located in south-central portion of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is one of the counties of Middle Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 52,796. Its county seat is Manchester....

. He had been arrested and held for larceny

Larceny

Larceny is a crime involving the wrongful acquisition of the personal property of another person. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law. It has been abolished in England and Wales,...

 of a Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

 truck. When the officers stopped for food at a Waffle House

Waffle House

Waffle House is a restaurant chain with over 1600 locations found in 25 states in the United States. Most of the locations are in the Southern United States, where the chain remains a regional cultural icon...

 in Kennesaw, Georgia

Kennesaw, Georgia

Kennesaw is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. It had a population of 29,783 according to the 2010 census. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Founded in 1887, Kennesaw has a past surrounded with railroad history...

, Gay was able to free himself of his restraints and fled from the car. Gay ran onto the campus of Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw State University, also referred to as KSU, Kennesaw, or Kennesaw State, is a public, coeducational, comprehensive university that is part of the University System of Georgia. The university's main campus is located in Kennesaw, Georgia, United States, approximately north of Atlanta...

, where school officials and campus police locked down the university for approximately two hours.

Gay had previously escaped police custody in South Carolina while being transported to Alabama on charges of stealing an RV.

2007 escape

In 2007, he escaped to visit his dying mother in Tennessee and while on the run from police he managed steal the tour bus of country music singer, Crystal Gayle

Crystal Gayle

Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...

 (who Gay's mother happen to be a fan of) and traveled to Daytona International Speedway

Daytona International Speedway

Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, one of the most prestigious races in NASCAR. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosts races of ARCA, AMA Superbike, Grand-Am and Motocross...

 (where he tried to pass himself off as a member of Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart

Anthony Wayne "Tony" Stewart is an American auto racing driver and owner. Throughout his racing career, Stewart has won titles in Indy cars and stock cars as well as midget, sprint and USAC Silver Crown cars, giving him the recognition of "one of the finest racers of his generation."Stewart...

's race team). He was apprehended by police after a police officer witnessed a prostitute walk off the stolen tour bus Gay was driving (the bus was returned to Crystal Gayle undamaged). Twelve days following Gay's capture, Gay's mother died on Feb. 7, 2007 of cancer. Gay was not allowed to attend her funeral.

This escape inspired country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien (musician)

Tim O'Brien is an American country and bluegrass musician. In addition to singing, he plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki and mandocello...

 to write a song about his escape called "The Ballad of Christopher Daniel Gay". It also inspired indie hip-hop artist Sage Francis

Sage Francis

Paul "Sage" Francis is a hip-hop artist from Providence, Rhode Island.-Biography:Born Paul Francis in Miami, Florida, Sage Francis is a rapper/writer/performer from Providence, Rhode Island. He is the founder and CEO of the independent hip-hop record label Strange Famous Records...

 to write the song called "Little Houdini" on his 2010 album Li(f)e

Li(f)e

-Charts:-References:-External links:*...

.

In popular culture

• The story of his 2007 escape to visit his dying mother and his theft of Crystal Gayle's tour bus was featured on World's Dumbest Criminals. Gay's theft of the tour bus and his trip to a Daytona Beach speedway (where he attempted to pass himself off as Tony Stewart's bus driver) were mocked by the shows celebrity commentators.
• The case of Gay's 2007 escape was featured on Investigation Discovery's I (Almost) Got Away With It, in an episode titled "Got a Country Legend's Tour Bus". It featured interviews and commentary from those involved with the case, the police, prison officials, Gay's sister, Gay himself, and Crystal Gayle
  Crystal Gayle
  Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...
  
  .