Signs of evidence as scarce as suspects
Copyright © 1998 The Durango Herald. All rights reserved.

June 16, 1998

By Joshua Moore
Herald Staff Writer

The ammunition and crossbow found during a manhunt for suspected cop-killers near Lake Powell June 9 did not have any identifiable fingerprints on them because they’d been buried for a long time, according to Cortez police Chief Roy Lane.

A second bag containing a section of pipe, a piece of canvas and some clothes found Thursday near the ammunition cache proved to belong to a hiker, Lane said.

The bag had been buried for four to five years, according to Montezuma County Sheriff Sherman Kennell.

Authorities had hoped the ammunition, which was the same caliber as the bullets used to kill Cortez police officer Dale Claxton May 29, was the beginning of a trail that would lead them to two men who have eluded searchers for 18 days.

A scaled-back search team continued to scour parts of Cross Canyon Monday for Alan "Monte" Pilon, 30, of Dove Creek, and Jason McVean, 26, of Durango, the two men suspected of shooting Claxton and wounding two Montezuma County sheriff’s deputies after stealing a water truck May 28. A third suspect, Robert Mason, 26, of Durango, was found dead June 4 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after wounding a San Juan County, Utah, sheriff’s deputy.

Kennell said he reduced his search team to about 10 people per day, with teams of six to eight searching mines, ruins and other sites for any trace of the suspects. In addition to Cross Canyon, Kennell said teams had searched Dove Canyon, Yellow Jacket Canyon, Cedar Point and Bug Point, all without discovering any evidence.

Although there has been no evidence since May 30 that Pilon and McVean are still in Cross Canyon, Lane still believes they are in the area.

"I still think that they’re in the area, but that’s just one person’s opinion," Lane said.

Meanwhile, the reward for information leading to Pilon and McVean’s arrest has grown to $62,500, according to Marlin Wittwer of Citizens State Bank of Cortez.

Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., announced Friday he had secured a pledge of $250,000 in reward money from U.S. Sen. Judd Greg, R-N.H., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State. Campbell sent a letter Thursday to Attorney General Janet Reno asking the Justice Department and the FBI post the $250,000 reward.

According to John Russell, a Justice Department spokesman, the FBI reward is still $50,000. He had no idea when or if Reno would post the $250,000 reward, he said.

James Doyle, Campbell’s press secretary, said Greg had approved the reward money as part of the Justice Department’s 1999 fiscal budget, earmarking it specifically for this reward.

"Senator Greg assured us the money would be available," he said. "With the senator’s assurance, it’s a done deal."

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