( CNN ) Just over a month ago , Kamron Taylor sat in an Illinois courtroom to hear a jury convict him of murder . Early Wednesday morning , Taylor sat in an Illinois jail . Hiding outside his cell . Ready to pounce . When he did , his victim was a correctional officer making his rounds , according to Kankakee County Sheriff Timothy Bukowski . Taylor beat up the guard , put on his uniform and took his keys . He then walked out of the jail 's door and into the officer 's brown 2012 Chevrolet Equinox SUV . Where the 23-year-old , who was set to be sentenced in May , is now is anybody 's guess . The Equinox was discovered around 8:30 a.m. ( 9:30 a.m . ET ) in Kankakee , but without any sign of the convicted murderer who drove it . Looking for Taylor is job No . 1 for authorities . No . 2 is figuring out how he managed to first get out of his cell , then get out of the Jerome Combs Detention Center and on the lam . `` The question for us is where did ( the county correctional system ) break down , '' Bukowski said . `` It looks right now ( like ) somebody did n't do their job properly . '' What authorities do know is based on video , other evidence and interviews with witnesses -- namely other inmates at the Kankakee jail . What they do n't know is how Taylor got out of his two-man cell , when he should have been locked down . But somehow he did , and hid . `` And then when the opportunity arose , he attacked the officer , '' Bukowski said , noting that Taylor `` attacked from the side '' around 3 a.m. `` Beat him , choked him . '' He then apparently disrobed the guard , a military veteran and 10-year employee of the corrections department . The guard was left on the jail floor , going in and out of consciousness , for about 35 minutes before authorities -- concerned because the guard had n't responded to calls -- found him , the sheriff said . `` They then called the ambulance and we were notified and put out an alert , '' added Bukowski . By then , Taylor was gone . He 'd pushed a button to notify `` master control '' that he wanted to leave , which means his identity would have been checked by camera . `` We think that because he had the officer 's uniform on , '' the sheriff explained , `` that 's how he was able to effectively escape . '' Taylor walked out the door and into the detention center 's parking lot , where , authorities said , he clicked the correctional officer 's key fob to find the Chevy Equinox . That officer is now in an intensive care unit at St. Mary 's Hospital in Kankakee , Bukowski said . The manhunt , meanwhile , continues for Taylor . He has a history of trouble with the law that predates his murder conviction , including an August 2009 sentence of five years , 10 months in Tennessee for robbery and resisting arrest . Taylor was on parole for that crime when he killed a man during a June 2013 botched robbery . A jury convicted him of murder in that incident in late February . After the verdict was read , Taylor sat down , looked back , then got up and ran , according to The Daily Journal in Kankakee . Bailiffs and sheriff 's deputies wrestled him to the ground , eventually leading him out of the courtroom as he cursed . Now a $ 5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to his arrest . The fact that he tried to get away once before and has been involved in fights `` raises an alert , I guess , '' the Kankakee County sheriff said . `` But we figure that the people who are locked up in our facility are n't altar boys , and we take certain precautions for all of them , '' Bukowski added . `` And you ca n't become complacent with anybody , especially murderers . '' CNN 's John Newsome contributed to this report .
note : The correctional officer is in intensive custody after being kidnapped , choked . It appears ` ` somebody did n't do their job properly , '' he says after the escape . Kamron Taylor also manages to escape a prison after being convicted of kidnapping in February .