Probation officer gives office BJ to boot-camp teen
Tracy Province & Charles McCluskey, Escaped Fugitives, Believed to Have Killed Couple in New Mexico
Friday, August 20, 2010 at 11:06 am
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| Charles McCluskey is believed to have murdered an Oklahoma couple during their escape |
So on July 30, McCluskey's fiancee and cousin, Casslyn Mae Welch, chucked cutting tools over the prison fence. Along with fellow inmate Daniel Renwick, the pair cut their way through a fence and managed to escape.
Renwick would soon be captured in Colorado after a shootout with police. But McCluskey and Province are still on the lam. They were first witnessed driving a Volkswagen in Phoenix. Police believe they subsequently hijacked two trucks. Then their flight turned deadly.
Last Wednesday, police found the charred bodies of Linda and Gary Haas in a camper in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. They still haven't made a positive ID, but the Oklahoma couple's truck was later found 120 miles away in Albuquerque.
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| Casslyn Mae Welch threw cutting tools over the fence so her cousin/fiance McCluskey could escape |
But the park spans over 2 million acres, meaning it's an easy place to got lost, and a very difficult place to search. There's some belief that Province has already left the area, headed to find refuge with relatives in Indiana.
In the meantime, McCluskey's 68-year-old mother, Claudia Washburn, has been arrested for aiding the escape. She supposedly provided money to McCluskey and her niece, Casslyn Mae Welch, so they could flee together.
Yes, it's one more example of the Master Race: A Nazi flees a murder rap with his lover/cousin to enjoy a life of inbreeding in the Montana wilderness.
But McCluskey's stepdad, Jack Washburn, won't be as accommodating as his wife. If he ever sees his stepson again, he told U.S. marshals, he'd shoot him himself.
The 42-year-old Province, who was serving a life sentence for murder, was captured at 6:20 a.m. in Meeteetse, Wyoming, about 60 miles outside of Yellowstone National Park. A woman recognized Province after talking to him on the steps of a local church.
At the time of his arrest, Province was holding a hitchiking sign that had "Casper" written on it. Police said that Province also had a handgun at the time of his arrest.
UPDATE: Tracy Province caught after attending church in Meeteetse, Wyoming.Maybe he was seeking penance for his murderous past. Maybe he was just tired and broke after days on the run. But Tracy Province's decision to attend church in tiny Meeteetse, Wyoming led to his downfall.
On Sunday, he showed up for services at the Meeteetse Community Church, about 60 miles outside of Yellowstone National Park. He was wearing blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and carrying a backpack. Parishioners assumed he was just another hitchhiker on his way to the famed park.
Church members welcomed him and the pastor offered Province $40 and a jacket in exchange for mowing the parish lawn, which suggests that he was desperately short on money. But a woman he spoke with outside the church would later recognize Province after she got home and saw his photo in the news.
He was caught the next day with a pistol and a hitchhiking sign that said "Casper." Seeing that he was a nationally hunted fugitive with his mugshot plastered on news broadcasts everywhere, there's little doubt Province was near the end of his rope if he'd decided to openly stand along a freeway hoping to hitch his way out of town.
Meanwhile, John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch are still one the loose. Police are concentrating their searches in northern Montana and Canada. But they also believe the couple has come to fancy themselves as Bonnie and Clyde -- the inbreeding version -- and will not go down without a fight.
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| John McCluskey told police he regretted not opening fire when he was surrounded by a SWAT team near a national forest |
It seemed a forest ranger had come across an unattended campfire near the Apache and Sitgreaves national forests near Springerville, Arizona. The ranger also noticed a car backed suspiciously into the woods, as if someone was trying to hide it. A license plate check identified the car as stolen in New Mexico.
So the ranger informed the Apache County SWAT team, which apparently rushed in before McCluskey and Welch could start shooting. Police say Welch pulled a gun stuffed in the back of her pants, but thought better of shooting, lest SWAT members shoot her ass off.
McCluskey was found lying outside a tent. He told police that he regretted not shooting the cops.
Both are wanted for McCluskey's escape from an Arizona prison. They're also being looked at for the murder of an Oklahoma couple, who'd been camping in nearby New Mexico when they were murdered and their car was stolen.
See our last story on fugitives: Rodney McKinney, Wanted for Rape, Found Hiding in a Dryer.
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