At trial, he dared a judge to give him the stiffest sentence possible, vowing to escape within a year. The judge accepted the challenge and gave Horning four life sentences. On May 12th, 1992, prison officers doing the 4:00 head count found that Danny Ray Horning was not in his cell. Investigators learned that Horning had been assigned a janitorial job. This gave him access to medical uniforms. Horning exchanged his prison uniform for the lab coats and a forged employee ID. They believed that he simply walked out of the prison. The convicted felon and suspected killer was on the run. In Arizona, Horning was convicted of armed robbery, kidnapping, and assault.