Police switch gears in hunt for fugitives
Copyright © 1998 The Durango Herald. All rights reserved.

HERALD/JOSHUA MOORE

CISSY, A 4½-year-old bloodhound, relaxes Tuesday after returning from a day of searching for fugitives Alan "Monte" Pilon and Jason Wayne McVean in the canyons west of Cortez. Cissy’s specialty is locating dead bodies, though police said they have no evidence the two fugitives are dead. Cissy’s handler, partially shown, is Montrose County sheriff’s deputy Scott Wagner. Wagner said the dog was named for Cissy Foster, a Denver girl who was abducted, raped and murdered.

Cissy

June 17, 1998

By Joshua Moore
Herald Staff Writer

The manhunt for two fugitives in the canyons west of Cortez has gone to the dogs.

Searchers used a specially trained bloodhound Tuesday to try and find corpses in Cross Canyon, west of Hovenweep National Monument in Utah, in case the two suspects are dead, Montezuma sheriff’s Capt. Joey Chavez said.

Alan "Monte" Pilon, 30, of Dove Creek, and Jason McVean, 26, of Durango, have eluded searchers for 19 days after allegedly shooting Cortez police officer Dale Claxton May 29 and then fleeing into Cross Canyon. A third suspect, Robert Mason, 26, of Durango, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound June 4 near Bluff, Utah, after wounding a San Juan County, Utah, sheriff’s deputy.

Chavez said searchers had no evidence that either Pilon or McVean were dead in Cross Canyon.

He said because of the lack of new evidence, the sheriff’s department decided to use the bloodhound to determine if the two suspects had died in the canyon.

"We’ve had no sightings, no break-ins and no stolen vehicles," Chavez said. "We’re not ruling out anything at this point."

The bloodhound, trained to smell a dead body, did not locate any corpses in Utah, but searchers will continue to use the dog as the search moves into the section of Cross Canyon surrounding Hovenweep.

The bloodhound can smell a corpse even if it is buried, Chavez said.

Scott Wagner, a K-9 officer with the Montrose County Sheriff’s Department, brought his 4½-year-old bloodhound, Cissy, to Cortez for the search. Wagner and Cissy flew to Utah by helicopter for Tuesday’s search. Wagner said he’s been using Cissy as a necro-search dog since she was 9 months old.

Cissy is named for Cissy Foster, a Denver girl who was abducted, raped and murdered, Wagner said.

Although the number of searchers has been reduced from 500 to less than ten, searchers will continue to search and re-search Cross Canyon and neighboring canyons, Montezuma County Sheriff Sherman Kennell said Tuesday.

"We’re trying to get back to a more normal schedule at the sheriff’s department," Kennel said. "But my deputies will keep at it in the canyons."

Chavez, who is in charge of search operations for Montezuma County, said he will use the bloodhound today in the area near where Pilon and McVean abandoned the second vehicle they stole, a flatbed truck.

Chavez said the search may take a few days because the bloodhound tires quickly in the rugged terrain and heat.

Two other search dogs from Denver are available if searchers need them, Chavez said.

"Because of the conditions in that area, the dog is only good for about three hours," Chavez said. "But the dog will be here until the handler is sure there are no dead bodies in the area."

Kennell said his department has only begun to tally how much the search for Pilon and McVean has cost them, but the financial strain will probably be felt for several years. Kennell said five patrol cars were damaged in the May 29 chase, and two of those cars are likely a total loss.


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