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Youth hunted in slaying in police custody last weekBOWIE — A Fort Grant escapee be-ieyed to have been involved in a killing resterday at Wenden apparently was in nistody of police briefly last Saturdaylight.Steve Vukcevich, superintendent of the State Industrial School for Boys at Fort Jrant, said Roy L. Rodriguez, 17, of 012% E. Pierce, Phoenix, was ringlead-r of six youths who slugged a guard ibout 7:30 p.m. Saturday and escaped in is red 1965 Volkswagen.Fort Grant officials sent out an all-oints bulletin minutes later after the uard regained consciousness and re-orted the incident.*About an hour later, Cochise County heriff’s. Deputy Richard Nayman spot-jd the car south of the institution on iterstate 10.He radioed Arizona Highway Patro eadquarters in Tucson that the vehicle ad refused to stop and requested assist-nce.Highway Patrolman Robert'Sabin, 32, six-year veteran, joined in the chase nd pulled up beside Nayman’s vehicle sading east toward Bowie.Sabin told The Arizona Republic yes-irday:“We were both behind the Volks, I in le right hand lane and Nayman in the ft. Every time we’d start to pass the oiks, they’d pull over in front of the shicle trying to pass.“The deputy tried to pass them on the ft but they pulled right into the side of s car. The pavement was wet — thereCSV*.ft:■WjA6UILAD6PUTY SHOT' WIGKSMBUR6W2WD5K^.wan mumI HIM OT ^ * OM5 CAPTURS.D.TWO 40U6tfT^4. IN Di-SiRTSSARCrtPHOENIXnmr■TUCSON1**10 6TCfcfc CAR, ANDPHOOMIX1 wmim-Map traces path of Fort Grant escapees from Phoenix through Wickenburg and Aguila to Wenden and then south into the desert toward the Little Harqua-Republic map by Gus Walkerhala Mountains. Inset map shows proximity of Fort Grant to Tucson and . Bowie, through which escapees passed on their way to Phoenix.was a light rain falling — and the Volks skidded off the right side of the road and through a fence.“I think one boy was tossed out because hlt; came running, dazed, toward us. We saw four others scatter — I don’t know what happened to the sixth boy.“The deputy and I jointly handcuffed the one we caught with his hands behind his back and placed him in the HighwayPatrol car.“We locked the back door by pressing down the push buttons.”Sabin said he had heard on the radio that two other highway patrolman and a reserve officer were speeding to the scene, 4 miles west of Bowie, with emergency lights on.“We could see their lights coming,” Sabin said, “and knew they would be there shortly to guard the youth. So we headed out to try to catch some of the others who had been in the car.While they were gone the youth in the car, identified later as Rodriguez, escaped.“I think he somehow slipped his manacled hands in front of himself, opened the door himself and fled, ” Sabin said. .Vukcevich said he was informed that while the officers were chasing the other escapees one of the young fugitives, whom he identified as Joe Angel Jiminez, slipped up to the car, unlocked the back door, apparently by reachingthrough the unlocked front door, let Rodriguez out and fled with him..♦Jimenez was captured later but. he refused to talk about the escape, Ft. Grant officials said.Asked if it was Highway Patrol policy to handcuff a suspect to a part of'the vehicle in such a situation, Sabin said, “That is up to the individual officer. It depends on the circumstances.”Nayman could not be reached for comment.Vukcevich and Assistant Supt. Bob Montoya said they had been informed by the other escapees who were recaptured that Rodriguez was the one in the patrol car.y.vv.v.Sftft!«lt;•ESm-.■V-:•‘•v* v--v-v.v.v.y‘Y* . .y ;!vv,v.*.v .V.v.’S'/.V.VAWA■ . WAVV.'V*W *•*-*■iMili. • \y, y*. • .* *•«y y .* »■ .■«•••mlt;lt;lt;:W*-y.V.v.y.ftr-ft;mmmmViV.MHP-y. *f.V.V WlWXV.V^'AV^WAV.Vri.w.y.mwmw.• vx*-*miiMSyft.Vf.V.SSyj.y.y.iiPmmmmm.•.IMmmm*.PIPPI____Associated PressJohn B. Connally laughs when be Nixon’s next running mate.jbarrednergency Preparedness. Offices will opened in another 145 cities Monday, ! department said. President Nixon d hoped to keep the size of the wage-ce bureaucracy to a minimum.- Hodgson announced that construc-n wage agreements submitted -to the lustry’s stabilization machinery before g. 16, and providing for adjustments ective before that date, will not be ected by the general wage and price eze. He said the government mecha-m established for construction stabili-;ion had delayed increases that other-ie would have been in effect.ntemationally, America’s trading 'tners continued to grapple with the ects of Nixon’s announcement Sunday ting the dollar’s tie to gold and tailing a 10 per cent tariff surcharge on st imports.’he Japanese stock market suffered third worst drop in history as the itral bank continued to support the lar in the face of news reports that upward revaluation of the yen may near.Moreabouts ,2 escapees, 17, sought as killersContinued from Page 1aconcussion and cuts and bruises of the head.Authorities said Nunez and Rodriguez escaped from Fort Grant on June 11, but that Rodriguez was recaptured only to escape again last Saturday. Nunez reportedly has been at large since June 11.All three youths have long juvenile records, authorities said. They said Abelino Rodriguez was released from the school the day after his 18th birthday. He was evaluated as having made “good progress” during his stay there.But, declared Steve Vukcevich, superintendent at Fort Grant, “Roy Rodriguez should have been in prison. There just isn’t enough security here.”Fort Grant has been severely criticized in the past by surrounding communities for being lax on security.Vukcevich said the legislature has approved a maximum security “adjustment center” for the school but release of funds is being held up by the Joint Budget Council of the legislature.Neighbors of Mrs. CaniQn at Wenden and sheriff’s deputies gave these accounts of the beating of Mrs. Canion and the subsequent slaying of Tidwell:Three youths drove up in a car and stopped outside the home of the Robinettes, Mrs. Canion’s parents. They drove a 1965 El Camino Chevrolet, which Phoenix police said was reported stolen at 1:32 a.m. yesterday by Mary Winters, 39, of 1908 E. Grant, Phoenix.Mrs. Canion, who lives near her parents, approached the youths and told them, “Don’t bother them. They’re not up yet. Can I help you?” The trio grabbed her and dragged her into her home.Screams from inside the Canion home brought Tidwell running from his nearby trailer to render aid. He carried a shotgun. But, as Tidwell reached the front yard of the Canion home, he was shot twice and then beaten, apparently with his own shotgun. His body was then dragged around to the side of the house, where it was covered with a blanket and material from the E! Camino.The stock of Tidwell’s shotgun was found broken, indicating he was beaten with the weapon.Mrs. Canion escaped and dashed out of the house. However, she was recaptured and dragged back into her home feet first and tied up. The trio went outside and tried to start the El Camino but couldn’t. They then checked a neighbor’s pickup truck but apparently decided against taking it because it had a large water tank affixed to it.The trio then started pushing the El Camino in an effort to get it started.Mrs. Canion managed to free her bonds and ran out of her home into the nearby Tidwell trailer. She was let inside by Tidwell’s son, Mark, 17. One of the trio tried to break into the trailer home and recapture Mrs. Canion but was unable to gain entrance.The three youths finally got the El Camino started and drove off several blocks to the west, where they abandoned the stolen vehicle at the highway maintenance yard and fled into the desert.Mrs. Elias Orozco, who lives behind Mrs. Canion’s home, said Mrs. Canion told her afterward that the trio had told her “they had killed a sheriff at Aguila and they would kill her if she fussed.” Aguila is midway between Wickenburg and Wenden on U.S. 60.Mrs. Orozco said Mrs. Canion told her the trio had repeatedly beat her over the head with “a large knife.”Mrs. Gladys Lott, who lives in a trailer across the street from Mrs. Canion, said she was just getting up when she heard three shots.Looking out her window, Mrs. Lott said she saw three men beating on “someone” lying in the front yard of the Canion home.She told of hearing Mrs. Canion shouting for help, dashing out of the home, and then being dragged back inside feet first.She said the assailants then dragged a body around to the side of the house and re-entered the houseSheriff’s Lt. Leroy Pena said witnesses told him they saw deputy Bell shot as he investigated the activities of the three youths just outside Wickenburg city limits.Pena said witnesses indicated one of the youths stepped out of his car, reached in the window and took a handgun from the El Camino’s glove compartment, walked up to the deputy’s parked cruiser and shot him point blank in the face as Bell radioed headquarters for information on the El Camino and its three occupants.Deputy Bell then radioed for help as the El Camino sped westward on U.S. 60 toward Wenden.Lt. Hill related that Sgt. Felix was driving by the Wenden mantenance yard when he was hailed by two highway employes, Dale Shreeve, 33, of 2920 E. Latham, Phoenix, and Don Machen, 41, of 341 N. 83rd St., Mesa.Shreeve and Machen, installing a cooler on the roof of a house in the yard, told Sgt. Felix that they had seen the trio scale the yard fence and flee into the desert after abandoning their car inside the yard, Hill said.Sgt. Felix subsequently captured Abelino Rodriguez, Hill said, when he saw a movement inside some nearby desert brush and ordered him to come out. Rodriguez did not resist, Hill said, adding that the suspect was carrying a bloody knife.More than 100 lawmen and 50 vehicles, horse and aircraft from three counties were scouring the area near Wenden for the escapees.Shortly before midnight, three expert trackers arrived from Arizona Stafe Prison. Lt. Don Venenti, Sgt. Alex Cordova and Art Robles said they hoped to start work at daybreak.Earlier, civilian hunting trackers Bill Lee, Burt Conley and Conley’s son, Larry, said they found traces believed to have been made by one of the men sought on the ridge of Harquahala Peak, 9 miles east of Wenden. They said the footprints indicated the man had drunk water from a moss - covered pool of rainwater as he climbed up the mountain.
Newspaper Details
Phoenix Arizona Republic
Phoenix, Arizona, US
Fri, Aug 20, 1971
Page 44
Full Page
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AR, USA 07 Jul 2020
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