ANGOLA, La. (AP) — A convicted murderer who escaped from Louisiana’s top-security prison eluded capture for four days by hiding out in a field of briars.

That’s according to Louisiana State Penitentiary Warden Burl Cain, who said Henry Smith frustrated search teams by not leaving fresh trails of footprints for bloodhounds to follow. Cain said Smith spent two days in the field before he was caught Monday morning in a creek bed about four miles from the boundary of the prison grounds.

The 44-year-old Smith walked away from his job as a ‘‘road walker’’ picking up litter on prison grounds Thursday. He is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder in Jefferson Parish.