A convicted murderer who fled with his family to Canada while he was an inmate at a Casper work-release program pleaded guilty today to an escape charge.

Shannon Parazoo, 44, faces the possibility of maximum 10-year prison sentence for the escape. He fled while serving a 20- to 30-year prison sentence for a 1985 second-degree murder conviction.

On Feb. 9, Parazoo and his stepson, Alonzo Durgin, walked away from the Casper Re-Entry Center where both inmates in the work-release program. Along with Parazoo's wife, two of her children and several pets, they traveled to Montana and then Canada, Parazoo told the Star-Tribune in a March phone interview.

The walk-away escape prompted a search that spanned the northwestern United States and Canada.

Canadian police arrested the fugitives on Feb. 23 in Merritt, a British Columbian town about three hours northeast of Vancouver after Parazoo tried unsuccessfully to purchase a tire at a store. The clerk thought him suspicious and called police.

In Natrona County District Court this morning, Parazoo admitted that he did not return to the re-entry center when he was supposed to. He spoke only to answer questions from Judge David Park.

Parazoo's guilty plea did not come as part of a plea agreement. His sentencing hearing hasn't been set.

Parazoo completed his sentence for the murder in September, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Melinda Brazzale. He's now serving time for a 1985 attempted escape at a service station on Interstate 80 near Rawlins.

That sentence is currently set to end in November 2010, but that could change depending on his behavior in prison, Brazzale said.

Court proceedings for Durgin, who was also an inmate at the re-entry center and has 1997 convictions for aggravated assault and aggravated robbery, are pending.