POLICE IN SOUTHWEST SEARCH FOR MURDERERS OF HAM OPERATOR AND HIS WIFE

[News]

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News:

Authorities across the Western United States and Canada are searching
for an escaped convict and his accomplice who may have been involved in
the brutal murder of Gary Haas N5VGH and his wife Linda.  This after
their bodies were found in their burned out travel trailer in Santa
Rosa, New Mexico. 

The badly burned skeletal remains of a couple believed to be Gary,
N5VGH, and Linda Haas were found by a rancher in a charred trailer near
Santa Rosa, New Mexico, on Wednesday, August 4th.   State Police have
confirmed that an Oklahoma couple by that name owned the trailer as
well as a pick-up truck that was later found abandoned in Albuquerque. 

New Mexico State Police Major Robert Shilling said on Saturday, August
7th that 45 year old John McCluskey has been linked through forensic
evidence to the couple's remains.  Shilling declined to provide
specifics and would not say whether police think the other two people
McCluskey is believed to have been traveling with, Tracy Province and
Casslyn Mae Welch, are also tied to the killings. 

Province was captured on August 9th in Wyoming.  Also arrested was
Claudia Washburn, who is the mother of John McCluskey.  She was taken
into custody in Jake's Corner, Arizona on allegations that she 
provided financial and other types aid in the flight of her son, as
well as Province, and Welch.

With Province now behind bars, most involved in the search believe that
McClusky and Welch are hiding out in the Yellowstone Park area of
Montana or Wyoming or may have even crossed into Canada.  But in a
bizarre twist, U.S. Marshals for Arizona say the escaped inmate and his
fianc‚e may be as far away as Arkansas.  Authorities say that a couple
who robbed a store in Gentry, Arkansas on Wednesday morning, August 11th
fit the description of John McCluskey and his fianc‚e, Casslyn Welch. 
Gentry is in northwest Arkansas, near Bentonville, where Welch's mother
lives.  Police are reportedly trying to obtain surveillance video from
the robbery.   No matter where they are, McCluskey and Welch are
considered to be armed and extremely dangerous. 

The two victims, Gary and Linda Haas were from Tecumseh, Oklahoma. 
Gary Haas and was believed to be a member of Tecumseh Amateur Radio
Club. 

According to a search warrant affidavit obtained by The Oklahoman
newspaper, a relative told authorities that the Haas were traveling to
Colorado for their annual camping trip. The relative told police they
typically camped in state parks and they would often stay near Santa
Rosa.

US fugitive couple captured in Arizona
(AFP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — An escaped convict and his fiancee, whom police have linked to the murder of at least two people, were captured Friday at a campsite in Arizona, a US marshal said.
"The nightmare that started on July 30 is finally over," David Gonzales told a press conference broadcast on CNN.
He said the pair, 45-year-old John McCluskey, and his fiancee Casslyn Welch, 44, were discovered by a forest ranger who noticed their campfire and then discovered their stolen vehicle partially hidden by trees.
The ranger called in police and SWAT officers who surrounded the pair.
"At the time of the arrest, Casslyn Welch had a firearm in the small of her back, she attempted to go for the firearm but as she pulled it out, SWAT officers obviously had their guns trained on her and she laid it down on the ground," Gonzales said.
McCluskey was laying down at the site and was taken into custody before he could reach his nearby tent.
"He made a statement... that if he had gotten back to the tent, there was a gun there and that he would have killed the officers involved," Gonzales said.
Interpol issued an alert for the couple earlier this month at the request of the United States, saying Welch was suspected of aiding her fiance escape from an Arizona jail along with two other convicts, who were arrested on August 1 and 9 in Colorado and Wyoming.
Sightings of McCluskey and Welch were reported in New Mexico and Montana, near the Canadian border.
The jail break has been linked to the murder of an elderly couple at a camp ground in Santa Rosa, New Mexico in early August, the US Marshals Service said earlier this month.
"McCluskey and Welch are considered armed and extremely dangerous," the service said in a statement.
Gonzales said authorities were just beginning their investigations into potential crimes committed by the couple.
"We want to tie them to as many crimes as we can," he said. "If there were any other crimes committed while they were out we want to make sure that we tie those to them."
McCluskey was serving a 15-year sentence for attempted murder, while the convicts who escaped with him had been convicted of murder and second-degree murder, Interpol said.