IGNACIO — The water truck used as a getaway vehicle by three fugitives after they shot and killed a Cortez police officer Friday came from an oil-field services station in Ignacio.

The truck, stolen from Overright Trucking based in Farmington, was valued at nearly $100,000. The company bought the truck, the newest in its three-truck fleet, in December.

Overright Trucking used the truck to haul water drawn from coal beds in the mining of natural gas. The truck was empty when it was stolen shortly after 11:45 a.m. Thursday from a station where water is reinjected into the ground, said Mike Overright, a partner
with his father in the trucking business.

"(One of my drivers) was greasing up her truck, and took a break and went to Ignacio to get something to drink," Overright said. "When she came back she looked up and noticed that one of the trucks was gone. She looked around and saw it going really slow over the hill, but she just thought it was
odd."

The truck was heading west on County Road 318. Overright said a friend of his driver later saw the truck turn onto County Road 310.

"When she said a truck was missing, I thought she was joking," Overright said. The thieves "may have been watching for a long time before they took it. They probably had some sort of game plan before they started anything."

The three fugitives were pulled over by officer Dale Claxton about a mile south of Cortez Friday after the truck had been reported stolen. They opened fire before Claxton could get out of his car.

They abandoned the water truck near McElmo Canyon and stole another truck. State investigators were inspecting it Saturday.

Overright Trucking hauls water extracted from the coal-bed methane gas wells to a disposal station, located past mile marker 12 on County Road 318. The water is pumped out of the trucks and into a pump station. It is then pumped 10,000 to 12,000 feet underground. Because the station is the last stop for drivers, they normally leave the trucks there overnight.

The fugitives’ footprints were found all around the disposal station, Overright said.

Overright said the fugitives either had experience driving the 8-to-9-speed, air-braked trucks, or they contracted someone to steal the water truck for them. For what, Overright isn’t positive.