By SHAWN McGRATH

shawn.mcgrath@heraldbulletin.com

Along with contacting The Herald Bulletin Saturday night, escaped convict Kelvin J. Fuller also called an Indianapolis television station.

Fuller, 40, formerly of Anderson, called WXIN Fox 59 shortly after 9 p.m., according to Indiana State Police Sgt. Detective Joe Gawor.

Fox 59 weekend anchor and reporter Gene Cox said Fuller called the television station and asked for a reporter so he could get his side of the story out.

Cox’s conversation with Fuller mirrored Fuller’s phone call with The Herald Bulletin. He called the newspaper about 10:10 p.m., said he was in Indianapolis, but said he planned on leaving Indiana.

“He was fired up because ‘America’s Most Wanted’ said he was dangerous,” Cox said Sunday.

“America’s Most Wanted” featured Fuller, who escaped from the medium-security Westville Correctional Facility on Wednesday, during a roughly 15-second segment near the end of the program. And just like Fuller’s call to the newspaper, his mental state was the same during his roughly-10-minute talk with the television station.

“Agitated,” Cox said. “He was very frustrated with the Indiana Department of Correction and it was their fault that he had to escape: ‘I wasn’t feeling right and they’re not treating me right.’”

Fuller told The Herald Bulletin during a 30- to 40-minute call that he escaped the prison to seek treatment for a stomach ailment. He said he has been feeling nauseous for several weeks, and prison staff weren’t responsive in treating him.

“He blamed them for not taking care of him and putting him in a place where he could escape,” Cox said. “He just wanted to set the record straight. He said, ‘This will end badly.’”

Not long after Fuller said that, he hung up on the television station, according to Cox. Cox said Channel 59 is confident that it was indeed Fuller because the station recorded his voice and played it back to his aunt, Mary Fuller of Anderson.

“I’m pretty confident it was him,” she told The Herald Bulletin on Sunday. “It was him, I know my nephew’s voice.”

Mary Fuller said her nephew hasn’t contacted her since his escape. She said the last time she spoke with him was in mid-July when he called collect from prison, and about the same time his mother, Barbara Fuller, of Montgomery, Ala., visited him in Westville.

“I wish he would (call), so I could talk some sense into him,” Mary Fuller said.