Manhunt ends after arrest of fugitives
Source: Agencies |
August 21, 2010, Saturday
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AN unattended campfire and a suspicious forest ranger led to the arrest of two of the most wanted fugitives in the United States, ending a three-week nationwide manhunt that drew hundreds of false sightings, authorities said.
John McCluskey fled on July 30 with two other inmates from a private prison in northwest Arizona and evaded authorities in at least six states before being caught on Thursday evening just 483 kiloemters east of the prison.
Authorities arrested McCluskey, 45, and his alleged accomplice Casslyn Welch, 44, at a campsite in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in eastern Arizona.
Welch, who is McCluskey's fiancee and cousin, reached for a weapon but dropped it when she realized she was outgunned by a swarming special weapons police team, said David Gonzales, US marshal for Arizona.
Officers caught McCluskey without incident after finding him lying in a sleeping bag outside a tent. He told authorities he had a gun in his tent and would have shot them if he had been able to get to it.
"The nightmare that began July 30 is finally over," Gonzales said.
The fugitives' ruse began to crumble on Thursday afternoon when a US Forest Service ranger investigated what appeared to be an unattended campfire, Gonzales said. He found a silver Nissan Sentra backed suspiciously into the trees as if someone were trying to hide it. The ranger had a brief conversation with McCluskey, who appeared nervous and fidgety. A police team and surveillance unit surrounded the campsite and swarmed on the fugitives, Gonzales said.
John McCluskey fled on July 30 with two other inmates from a private prison in northwest Arizona and evaded authorities in at least six states before being caught on Thursday evening just 483 kiloemters east of the prison.
Authorities arrested McCluskey, 45, and his alleged accomplice Casslyn Welch, 44, at a campsite in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in eastern Arizona.
Welch, who is McCluskey's fiancee and cousin, reached for a weapon but dropped it when she realized she was outgunned by a swarming special weapons police team, said David Gonzales, US marshal for Arizona.
Officers caught McCluskey without incident after finding him lying in a sleeping bag outside a tent. He told authorities he had a gun in his tent and would have shot them if he had been able to get to it.
"The nightmare that began July 30 is finally over," Gonzales said.
The fugitives' ruse began to crumble on Thursday afternoon when a US Forest Service ranger investigated what appeared to be an unattended campfire, Gonzales said. He found a silver Nissan Sentra backed suspiciously into the trees as if someone were trying to hide it. The ranger had a brief conversation with McCluskey, who appeared nervous and fidgety. A police team and surveillance unit surrounded the campsite and swarmed on the fugitives, Gonzales said.
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