Dove Creek teen's killer at large
Copyright © 1999 The Durango Herald. All rights reserved.

April 13, 1999

By Joshua Moore
Herald Staff Writer

Investigators had made no arrests in connection with the killing of a Dove Creek High School senior found riddled with bullets on a rural county road outside Monticello, Utah, over the weekend.

San Juan County, Utah, Lt. Monte Dalton dismissed speculation that 18-year-old James Casey Eaton may have been shot by two suspected cop-killers who some believe may be roaming the desert wilderness along the Colorado-Utah border.

Dalton said Eaton was shot "numerous times" but said there was nothing about the murder to suggest he had been killed by either Alan "Monte" Pilon, 31, of Dove Creek, or Jason Wayne McVean, 27, of Durango. The two are suspected of using an assault rifle to shoot more than 25 bullets into Cortez police officer Dale Claxton on May 29, and injuring two deputies in a hail of bullets during the chase that followed.

"Everybody’s just trying to sensationalize everything," Dalton said. "Pilon and McVean have been gone from the country since it happened in May."

Eaton was found by a passing motorist in a clump of cedar trees about 500 feet off Highway 666, about 10 miles west of Dove Creek, Pilon’s hometown. Dalton declined to say how many times Eaton was shot, saying he did not want to jeopardize the investigation.

Eaton’s death "was very traumatic, and somebody was really irritated at him and really wanted him dead," Dalton said.