After spending almost 24 hours on the loose, a Catawba County Jail inmate was captured early Thursday morning at a closed Hickory restaurant.

Police caught Joseph Salser, 42, at the former home of Prime Sirloin on Hickory's Lenoir Rhyne Blvd. about 5:30 a.m Thursday. The restaurant has been closed since last month.

Salser is in now police custody at Catawba County Jail after he escaped from a Catawba County Sheriff's Department transport van on N.C. 127 about 8 a.m. Wednesday. Salser fled the van after removing leg shackles and prying a panel from the vehicle's back door.

Check the www.observernewsonline.com throughout the day for more updates, and see Friday's O-N-E for complete details.