Navajos follow new tracks after sighting
Copyright © 1998 The Durango Herald. All rights reserved.

July 29, 1998

By Joshua Moore
Herald Staff Writer

   Navajo special weapons and tactics teams Tuesday followed fresh tracks believed to be left by a suspected cop-killer.
   A Navajo family living north of Montezuma Creek, Utah, reported seeing a man wearing dirty clothing and carrying a backpack limping out of a canyon Monday, Navajo Nation Police Chief Leonard Butler said Tuesday.
   Butler said the entire family saw the man at about 11 a.m. Monday and immediately left the area to call authorities. Four SWAT teams consisting of about 40 Navajo Nation police officers converged on the area where the sighting occurred 40 minutes later, Butler said, and located fresh tracks.
   Butler said he believes the family spotted Alan “Monte” Pilon, 30, of Dove Creek, one of three men suspected of killing a Cortez police officer and wounding two sheriff’s deputies before fleeing into Cross Canyon May 29. A second suspect, Jason McVean, 26, of Durango, is also on the loose, while a third suspect, Robert Mason, 26, of Durango, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound June 4 near Bluff, Utah.
   Pilon reportedly walks with a limp, the result of a recent accident.
   Butler said the tracks matched some found near a water truck June 28 in Montezuma Creek, when a 9-year-old girl reported seeing two men wearing camouflage and matching the description of Pilon and McVean trying to steal the truck. SWAT teams from several agencies converged on Montezuma Creek after the sighting but were unable to capture the fugitives, despite a report by Navajo police that they came within 20 yards of two men they believed to be the suspects.
   Butler refused to give the exact location of the tracks found Monday, saying only that searchers were concentrating their efforts on an area north of Aneth, Utah, seven miles east of Montezuma Creek. Butler said SWAT teams had not gone more than five miles from the area where the family spotted the man.
   The family could not tell if the man was wearing camouflage, Butler said, and did not see him carrying any weapons. He was limping severely, Butler said.
Two dogs brought in to search the area had not picked up any new scents, Butler said, but SWAT teams would continue to follow the tracks over the rocky terrain Tuesday night.
   “We’re trying to run him down,” Butler said.
   A dispatcher at the San Juan County, Utah, Sheriff’s Office said a few sheriff’s deputies went to Montezuma Creek Monday to investigate the sighting, but said no deputies searched on Tuesday.
   Butler said he had no intention of calling for assistance from any other agencies.
   “We’re going to take care of it ourselves,” he said. Butler said he is keeping the search team streamlined, with himself and two lieutenants commanding the SWAT teams.

Comments on the site? Send ’em to the webmaster@durangoherald.com.