EDENTON, N.C. (WAVY) – A North Carolina woman experienced a nerve-wracking encounter with an escaped prisoner on Monday morning.

At approximately 7:30 a.m., 75-year-old Marie Steinburg was heading to her car in her driveway in Edenton, preparing to leave for work. As she approached her vehicle, which she believed had been securely locked the night before, she sensed something was amiss.

“I pressed the unlock button, and it must have startled the person inside because suddenly I noticed movement in the back seat,” Steinburg recounted to Nexstar’s WAVY. “I immediately stepped back, realizing there was someone in my car.”

The individual in her vehicle was none other than Charles Babb, an inmate who had broken out of the Chowan County Detention Center the previous evening. Authorities reported that Babb used a small edged weapon to facilitate his escape.

Having heard the emergency alert about the jailbreak, Steinburg quickly connected the dots and understood that the man in her car matched the description of the fugitive being sought by law enforcement.

He was still in his orange jumpsuit and wrapped in one of the blankets from the loft above their garage. 

“He kept saying, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m so cold. I’m so cold.’ And, you know, I was startled and I know he was too,” Marie Steinburg said. “And I said, ‘Well, hey, let me go in and get you a coat.’ I thought, I’ll try the mother act because I didn’t know whether he was dangerous or not.”

The two talked back and forth, with Babb asking Steinburg if she had a phone and if there was a McDonald’s close by. 

“I figured if I was nice to him, he’d be nice to me,” Marie Steinburg said. “I don’t know, I just figured that that was the thing to do because I didn’t know if he really was dangerous.”

He then began backing out of Steinburg’s driveway and eventually took off as she went back inside and got her husband to call 911. 

Authorities later found Babb close by and took him back into custody. 

Of all the houses in Edenton to end up at, Babb had also picked the home of former state senator Bob Steinberg, who pushed for prison reform during his 10 years in politics.  

“It worked out the way it was supposed to work out. And thank God everybody was safe,” Bob Steinburg said. “I was very proud of my wife. I mean, the way she handled it as I’m hearing about this now, from her and others, is that she really did a great job trying to not alarm the young man, but at least have a conversation with him.” 

Babb did leave behind some souvenirs for the Steinburgs — jail-issued slides, a facemask and a valuable lesson. 

That lesson? Marie Steinburg will be making sure her doors are locked from now on. 

“It’s one of those things that we learned,” Marie Steinburg said.  

The Chowan County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.