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Youth hunted in slaying in police custody last weekBOWIE — A Fort Grant escapee believed to have been involved in a killing yesterday at Wenden apparently was in custody of police briefly last Saturdaynight.Steve Vukcevich, superintendent of the State Industrial School for Boys at Fort Grant, said Roy L. Rodriguez, 17, of 1012% E. Pierce, Phoenix, was ringleader of six youths who slugged a guard about 7:30 p.m. Saturday and escaped in his red 1965 Volkswagen.Fort Grant officials sent out an all-points bulletin minutes later after the guard regained consciousness and reported the incident.y.■X:*About an hour later, Cochise County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Nayman spotted the car south of the institution on Interstate 10.■m.He radioed Arizona Highway Patrol headquarters in Tucson that the vehicle had refused to stop and requested assistance.Highway Patrolman Robert 'Sabin, 32, a six-year veteran, joined in the chase and pulled up beside Nayman’s vehicle heading east toward Bowie.Sabin told The Arizona Republic yesterday:“We were both behind the Volks, I in the right hand lane and Nayman in the left. Every time we’d start to pass the Volks, they’d pull over in front of the vehicle trying to pass.ikup‘The deputy tried to pass them on the left but they pulled right into the side of his car. The pavement was wet — thereAssociated Pressecretary John B. Connally laughs when i might be Nixon’s next running mate.arebarredtion-tion,d:morde-eze,rob-suc-leri-Emergency Preparedness. Offices will be opened in another 145 cities Monday, the department said. President Nixon had hoped to keep the size of the wage-price bureaucracy to a minimum.Is ofSinglun-:t to— Hodgson announced that construction wage agreements submitted -to the industry’s stabilization machinery before Aug. 16, and providing for adjustments effective before that date, will not be affected by the general wage and price freeze. He said the government mechanism established for construction stabilization had delayed increases that otherwise would have been in effect.;evi-andl ofInternationally, America’s trading partners continued to grapple with the effects of Nixon’s announcement Sunday cutting the dollar’s tie to gold and imposing a 10 per cent tariff surcharge on most imports.an-vicertedsrs”K OfThe Japanese stock market suffered its third worst drop in history as the central bank continued to support the dollar in the face of news reports that an upward revaluation of the yen may be near.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 he 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.lt;lt;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.through the unlocked front door, let Rodriguez out and fled with him.While they were gone the youth in the car, identified later as Rodriguez, escaped.Jimenez was captured later but. he refused to talk about the escape, Ft. Grant officials said.4iI 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 reachingAsked 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.Moreabout ,2 escapees, 17, sought as killersContinued from Page 1concussion and cuts and bruises of the head.The stock of Tidwell’s shotgun was found broken, indicating he was beaten with the weapon.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.”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.es told him they saw deputy Bell shot as he investigated the activities of the three youths just outside Wickenburg city limits.The trio then started pushing the El Camino in an effort to get it started.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.Fort Grant has been severely criticized in the past by surrounding communities for being lax on security.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.Deputy Bell then radioed for help as the El Camino sped westward on U.S. 60 toward Wenden.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.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.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.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. 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.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.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.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.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.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.Looking out her window, Mrs. Lott said she saw three men beating on “someone” lying in the front yard of the Canion home.Shortly before midnight, three experi trackers arrived from Arizona Stafi Prison. Lt. Don Venenti, Sgt. Alex Cor dova and Art Robles said they hopec to start work at daybreak.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 witness-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
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AR, USA 07 Jul 2020
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