Manhunt tips point to Utah
Copyright © 1998 The Durango Herald. All rights reserved.

Nov. 3, 1998

By Joshua Moore
Herald Staff Writer

Two "credible" tips about the possible whereabouts of two suspected cop-killers are located in San Juan County, Utah, but Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane said Monday that he’s waiting before he get his hopes up.

"I’ve gotten to where I don’t believe anything until it’s been checked out," Lane said Monday. Lane said he forwarded the information to the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, but he did not know when or if they would be pursued. Lane refused to elaborate on the details of the tips.

The tips were the two most reliable reports received by the staff of "America’s Most Wanted," a television program that aired a segment Saturday about the search for Alan "Monte" Pilon, 31, of Dove Creek, and Jason Wayne McVean, 27, of Durango.

Montezuma County Sheriff Sherman Kennell, who has been involved in most of the searches for Pilon and McVean, said Monday that he had not heard about the two tips.

Pilon, McVean and a third man, Robert Mason, 26, of Durango, are suspected of killing Cortez police officer Dale Claxton and wounding two sheriff’s deputies on May 29. Mason was found dead June 4 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound near Bluff, Utah, on June 6.